No Ordinary Guy
by Tayy.Babe
Summary: Hunter Wright is a normal kid. Ordinary school, girlfriend, and life. When he moves to Australia for his parent's job he meets a girl with a huge secret everything changes for him. And Hunter doesn't know if he can handle it. OC/Emma. Usual Pairings. R&R
1. New

_A/N: Hey guys. Hmm, where to start? _

_Well this is my first H2O story. I had watched about two episodes back when it first came out, as it was on the U.S's Disney Channel for a bit, but then it went back over to Disney Channel Australia, so I never caught up._

_About two days ago, I realized it was on Netflix instant watch and I said, " Well, why not try it?" __And boy was it one of the best decisions I have ever made!_

_I am absolutely positively addicted now, so much that it's probably unhealthy, and i definitely won't be telling my friends how i'm obsessed with a kids show about mermaids(: But it's all good. I can let it out here._

_Now, in this fandom i've noticed that there's not a lot of stories from a guy's perspective, and well, I wanted to change that. And because I usually write from a guy's perspective it'd be hard not too. You can probably already guess what kind of twist i'm going to put in with this thing, but i'll keep it a secret just in case(;_

_Anyway, leave a REVIEW if you enjoyed it, and check back soon as I will update as soon as I can. Also, I might make a new H2O RP forum, as all the forums are quite dead, so check back for that too(:_

_THANKS FOR READING.  
>(Sorry for rambling, haha)<em>

* * *

><p>It's one thing to be a transfer student to a new school in the middle of your Junior year. It's another to be a transfer student to another <em>country <em>in the middle of your Junior year. Well, for Hunter Wright, that's exactly the case.

Hunter Wright didn't want to move to Australia. He'd had a good life in Homewood, Illinois. He had a good group of friends, good grades and school, and a good stable relationship with a girl he'd been going steady with for years.

Unfortunately, all of that was now gone.

Hunter's parents, Julia and George, lived away from their son, down in Florida because of their jobs. Both Julia and George were highly intelligent Marine Biologists. Fortunately, Hunter was still able to stay with his friends in Chicago and live with his grandparents. But now that Julia and George's jobs were taking them away to Australia, they wanted to take Hunter with; they didn't want their son too far away.

So now Hunter stood in his new Australian home, ready for his first day of school, but missing everything he had back in the U.S. There was no way he could get all of it back, he could try, but it wouldn't happen. His friends said they'd stay in touch, but it wouldn't happen, his girl didn't want to try the long distance thing. So the only people he would stay in contact with were his grandparent's...but he was close with them, so it wasn't too bad a thing.

" Don't look so glum, son." Said his father, as he came downstairs and to the kitchen where Hunter stood, looking peppy and ready for the day. He wore a light blue, short sleeve, button up shirt, khaki's and sneakers. His dark brown hair that he and Hunter shared was brushed back, looking like a short version of a pompadour. His face was newly shaven and he looked like a new man.

Hunter could see himself looking glum, though. He probably looked like a like a real sad sap, and very cliché, staring longingly out the window. It really wasn't how he usually acted, but he still wanted to be back home.

Hunter turned away from the window and walked over to the fridge, " Yeah that'll be easy, Dad." he retorted. For the last two days, his father and his mom had this permanent smile on their faces. A smile that Hunter couldn't replicate, and it kind of made him mad. " It's not like my life's been turned to shit or anything." he rolled his eyes as he took some bacon out of the fridge.

" Watch your language, boy." Said George firmly, and much to Hunter's delight, his smile temporarily vanished and turned into a scowl. Hunter ignored him and simply rolled his eyes. It wasn't the time for George to think he could actually 'parent' him when he saw George so rarely he didn't even count him as his father most times.

" Whatever you say." Hunter replied as he put the bacon in a pan he'd just taken out of the cabinet. It began to sizzle, and pretty soon after it's aroma began to fill the kitchen. The cooking was so loud that he didn't hear another set of feet come down the stairs, but he did hear the voice.

" Wow, someone else besides me is actually cooking." Said Julia, his mother. She was wearing a white beach dress that ended at her knees. Her dirty blonde hair was up in a high ponytail, her ocean blue eyes were filled with excitement, and she had the same grin painted on her face.

" It's a wonderful sight isn't." Said George as she gave Juila a small hug.

" Mhmm, wonderful." Hunter said with another eye roll. He cooked all the time with his Grandparents. His Gramma always said, ' A young man is even more appealing when he can at least cook a nice breakfast every once and a while.' And he'd actually learned a lot from her.

Hm, he missed her already.

Soon enough, his bacon was cooked, so he took it out of the pan, wrapped the two slices in some paper towels, to catch the grease. Then he took the pieces of bacon out of the towels, put the greasy towels in the garbage, and grabbed his light brown backpack off of the floor beside him.

He slipped past his parents, and looked in the mirror that was down the hallway towards the front door. He checked himself over.

His hair was in his usual style, strategically spiked in the front, and brushed down everywhere else. His light blue hoodie and the white tshirt he wore underneath were nice, along with his dark blue jeans. It was basically what he wore every single day back in Chicago. With the exception of a big jacket during the winter. He'd probably get hot wearing it every day, because the weather in Australia differed, but for now it'd have to do.

The only downfall was that the whites around his aqua blue eyes were slightly tinged with red giving away his sleeping patterns. But hopefully it'd disappear throughout the day.

He steadied his bag on his back, and made his way to the front door. But something was off. In front of the door were several suitcases. Suitcases that he knew belonged to his folks.

What was going on?

" Mom? ! Dad? ! " Hunter shouted towards the kitchen. Immediately he could hear their footsteps coming toward him. When they stood in front of him, he spoke, " What's going on?"

His mom raised an eyebrow before turning to look at her husband, " Dear, you didn't tell him?" she asked, casually. Odd, when the situation was everything more than casual.

" Tell me _what?_" Hunter asked, but he had the strongest feeling that he already knew. They were leaving again. They'd just gotten here, and they were leaving _again_.

" It must've slipped my mind." George replied to Julia before looking at Hunter. " Son, we're ah, we've been invited to do some exploring in the waters a little ways away from Australia." he began. Hunter could tell he was trying to look sullen, but his excitement was breaking through. It completely shined as he continued, " We'll be underwater for quite a while."

Hunter threw up his hands exasperatedly, " Oh, that's awesome!" he shouted sarcastically. " We've been here less than three days and already your job is taking you away!" he added on. It was quite annoying actually. He would never get by here if his parent's weren't even there for him.

" Look, Hunt-" Julia began but Hunter didn't want any of it. He put up a finger and she stopped talking.

" Don't even." Hunter said, storming out of the house, and slamming the front door as hard as physically possible.

It was stressful, to say the least. Having parents like Hunter's was difficult. They didn't seem to care about anything except their jobs. It was always like that, ever since he was a kid. But he thought it'd be different when they got here. He thought that maybe his parents had made him move so that they could be near him and do their jobs at the same time. That obviously wasn't the case.

Parked in the driveway was his car that they'd brought from home. An old 2003, black Toyota Corola with beige and wooded interior. Now, the Wright family was upper middle class, and he probably could've gotten a nicer, more expensive car. But he secretly liked fixing it up. In fact, he'd fixed it up so well that it looked brand new. He was actually proud to drive it.

He hopped into the drivers seat that was on the exact opposite side of all the Australian made cars, which made everything quite awkward for him, but he'd practiced enough to get used to it.

He put his bag on the passengers side, and drove off towards his new school. A school that until now, he wasn't scared of being the new kid at.

…..

Hunter stood at the entrance and shrugged, it didn't look too bad. He could probably get along here.

Once again, he looked down at his schedule that he'd gotten in the mail the first day they'd moved into his house. It was all the classes he'd had back home, so he could just start from where he left off.

He continued to eye it as he walked through the crowded hallway. At the top it listed the number and unlock code to his locker which he needed to find so he could empty out the books he didn't need into his locker.

Just when he thought he was getting close, a body crashed into him, causing both parties to stumble back.

" Sorry!" Hunter said, just as the guy he'd bumped into said, " Watch where you're going!"

After catching his balance, he looked up at the kid he'd crashed into. The kid was tall, but Hunter stood a good two inches taller, and had brown hair. He had a scowl on his face, meant to scare Hunter, but it didn't work. It was actually kind of irritating.

The guy shoved Hunter when he'd caught his balance, and again Hunter stumbled back. But he didn't return the shove because it would undoubtedly lead to a fight, and it wouldn't look good to fight on his first day.

" Bump into me again and I swear you'll regret it." He repeated menacingly.

" I highly doubt that." Hunter replied lowly. He wouldn't fight back, but he would still run his mouth. " It wouldn't be wise threatening someone when you know you won't go through with it." he said with a humorless chuckle, and crossed his muscled arms in front of him.

At this point people began to gather round the two, assuming a full out brawl was going to happen. Hunter knew he was entertaining the notion, but he was sort of enjoying getting the guy riled up.

" Do you want to test that theory you got there, mate?" Said the boy, and he stepped closer to hunter, fists curled. And then Hunter thought, maybe a little fight wouldn't be too bad. They'd understand if it was self defense.

As the guy shoved him again, Hunter finally put his fists up, pulled his arm back...

" Knock it off Zane." Said a girls voice as she pushed through the crowd that'd enlarged since the last time Hunter had checked.

Zane, the boy who'd tried to fight Hunter looked at her, " Emma, this is none of your business. Back off."

Hunter looked at the back of the girl's blonde head. She faced Zane, her arms were crossed angrily, and her head was cocked to the side. " Well, I'm making it my business." she replied, her tone oozing with confidence.

Two other girls came in, again not facing him, but instead facing Zane. They took up similar stances to Emma's.

" Can't be bothered to fight people who've been here for more than ten minutes?" Asked the brunette.

" Plus, he's a bit taller than you." Said the other blonde, " Don't think you'd want to try that…but it would be funny to see someone kick your tail."

The three looked at each other, satisfied at their words. Zane now looked hesistant, ready to back off. He wondered what was so special about the three that actually made him step down.

" Whatever." Zane finally said, and walked away, much to the dismay of the bystanders who groaned unanimously before leaving to head of to class.

The three girls who'd just saved him from his first detention in Australia turned to face him.

He tried to hide the intial shock, but he knew it was futile. He couldn't stop the gaping. They were all very, _very_ pretty.

There was one platinum blonde, with ice-blue eyes and wore army green pants and a tank top. Her hair was curly, and in two braids with bangs covering her forehead.

Then there was a bruntette, with hazel eyes, with wavy locks in a high pony tail. She had on a purple t-shirt and pink shorts.

Then there was the other blonde, Emma. The prettiest of the three in Hunter's opinion. Her hair was straight, long, down her back, and she had a small braid the was pinned back along the side of her head. She had on blue jean shorts and a collared blue top. All three of them had a similar locket around their necks.

Hunter knew it'd been extremely awkward for the three when he kept staring for a good twenty seconds, especially when the look lingered on Emma.

The platinum blonde coughed, " Well, uhm. That was fun, y'know, defending you and all. No need for thanks." she said sarcastically with a raised brow. The brunette looked over at her and nudged her.

" _Rikki_." Cleo said, and looked at her, aiming for an apology.

Rikki shrugged, " _Well.._."

Emma shook her head, but smiled lightly, " She is right."

Hunter felt his face turn a slight shade of red. " Sorry." he said quickly as he got himself back together. That was a stupid thing to do. He wasn't doing to well at fitting in just yet, was he?

He looked at the three, " Thank you." Hunter replied honestly. " Probably would've been in a hell of a lot of trouble had you not helped. So, thanks."

Rikki waved her hand, " Oh, no problem." she said, " Zane needs a kick in the bum every once and a while…" she drifted off, " Speaking of a kick in the bum.." she turned around in the direction Zane had left, " See you later, new boy."

" Don't mind her." Cleo said with a small laugh. " Nice to meet you though…"

" Hunter." He told her with a nod.

" Hunter." Cleo finished with a smile. " Hope to see you soon."

" Yeah, same here." he smiled back before sticking his hands in his pockets. Now that he was alone with Emma, he was a bit nervous, just a bit. He looked back at her.

" You've made quite an entrance haven't you?" Emma said, looking up at him. And to think about it, he now probably did. No doubt would people start to talk about the new American student who almost started a fight in the middle of a school hallway on the first day.

" Yeah, well, might be a good thing." Hunter shrugged, but couldn't help but smile. " People will think I'm tough and that's always good right?"

She laughed, " Well, if you say so." she replied and he smiled wider. She pointed to his paper, " Ah, you looked like you were struggling to look for something. Did you need any help finding anything?" she asked politely.

Hunter rolled up his sleeve and checked his watch, it was almost time for his first class. " Well, I had been looking for my locker, but I guess my first class will have to do." he said, handing her his schedule. She took it from him and looked it over.

He watched as she did, and after about ten seconds she nodded. " Hm, we have the same Spanish and Chemistry class." she said, looking up from the paper at him.

_YES._ Hunter shouted in his head. He was actually doing a happy dance in his mind, but he didn't let it show. He had to play it cool. Play it casual. He didn't want to seem like a complete dork, it wouldn't attract any more of her attention.

" That's cool." Hunter nodded, he tried to look cool and nonchalant. But he ended up sounding like a bit of a dork.

Emma raised an eyebrow and smiled, nodding slowly, " Yeah." she said. She looked at him again before turning and pointing in front of her, " Second door, to your right is your English class, and Mathematics is on the second floor, and it's the first classroom at the end of the stairs. Then there's lunch, and you can actually sit with my friends and I if you'd like?" Emma suggested, turning back to look at him.

He didn't know if she was suggesting he'd sit with them to be nice, or if she'd really like for him to be there. He hoped for the latter.

" That would be nice, thanks." Hunter said to her. The bell rang loudly, and music jingled through the hallways. " The late bell?" he asked Emma. He had no idea what the hell it meant.

" No, it means we have two minutes to get to class." Emma informed him. " Which means we better get going." she smiled lightly, " See you at lunch?"

Hunter nodded, " Uh huh, see you at lunch." he replied and she nodded curtly before walking up the stairs to their right. He watched until she disappeared before letting out a happy girlish squeal. After a few seconds he took a deep breath in, calmed himself and looked in the direction where she'd told him and walked into the classroom full of people.

He got stares from each person, and didn't rightly like it, but that was the disadvantage of being the new kid in class. The teacher stood up from his desk and looked at his grade book that he held in his right hand, "Hunter Wright? " he said, looking up at him.

Hunter nodded, " Uh huh, that's me." he confirmed.

" Welcome, welcome." Said the male, " You can take a seat in the back."

Hunter looked to where the teacher then pointed and walked to his new seat. As he made his way, he could hear murmurs about what had happened with Zane earlier, and groaned. He knew it'd be what he'd be known as for a while. The kid who almost started a fight.

He sat down in his new seat, and put his bag beside him. He sat back in his seat and before the teacher began teaching he had one question he wanted answered.

" Yes, Mr. Wright?" Answered the man.

Hunter smirked lightly, " Ah, what time is lunch?"

* * *

><p><em>AN: I know it was short, but the chapter was beginning to be a bit long._

_Please **REVIEW** if you liked it, and if you enjoy it and chapter two should be out sometime very soon._

_Thanks!_

_Taylor(:_


	2. Competition

_Tap, Tap, Tap, _

_Tap-Tap, _

_TapTapTapTapTap_

Hunter's mechanical pencil tapped on the desk again and again. It was the only thing preventing him from laying his head on his desk, and falling asleep right then and there. English was the one class he was exceptionally good at, so what the teacher was explaining wasn't a mystery to him and was boring him out of his mind. His attention span was short sometimes and at this point had completely disappeared.

And so, off his mind drifted, and surprisingly the first thing it came to it was Emma.

She seemed like a very nice girl. As short a time as he'd known her, he'd already found that she was sweet, a little sassy, and very outspoken, what with the way she'd spoken to Zane and had the guts to tell him to back off first, followed by her friends.

Emma was just the kind of girl that Hunter would enjoy getting to know. And her attractiveness was a plus.

So, he decided he was going to get to know her better, one way or another. He made a plan to maybe get a few words in after class, before lunch and before they sat with the rest of the girls, because it would be awkward to speak one on one to her and ignore the others too. Not to mention it would be extremely rude of him.

He felt a small tingling sensation in his stomach, he was actually quite excited.

A pressure on his shoulder yanked him out of his thoughts.

" Uhm, can you cut it out?" A tanned, blonde girl about his age asked in a whisper. As he came back to reality, he had kind of hoping the blonde head of hair belonged to someone else, and was disappointed to see it wasn't.

Instead she was someone he immediately perceived as snobbish and annoying, though she hadn't said more than a sentence to him. She was wearing clothes that shouted EXPENSIVE right in his face, and the way she carried herself made her seem like she was made of money. He thought, 'Oh…one of those girls.'

" Depends on if you wanna ask nicely." Hunter said quietly back, sounding a little rude, though he hadn't meant it that way. He always had that sort of attitude reserved for those sorts of people. But she didn't seem to notice and instead smiled flirtatiously at him.

" Sorry." She replied, studying him obtrusively, like she had no intent of hiding the fact that she was checking him out. Hunter raised a brow in response. " Can you please stop tapping your pen?"

Hunter nodded and put his pen down, " Yeah, no problem." he replied, and turned back to the front of the classroom to escape her patronizing gaze.

It wasn't to say he didn't mind being checked out. It was quite flattering and he'd grown used to it. But there was something about the girl he didn't like, and he didn't want to give her the priviledge. Plus, her interruption was preventing him from thinking of well, a more attractive blonde.

" My name is Miriam, by the way." She said to his back.

" Erm, well nice to meet you."

_Brrrrrrrrring!_

Hunter practically jumped out of the seat as the bell rang, and sprinted for the door. After he'd finished speaking to the girl who sat behind him, he'd been counting the minutes until he could get out of class. He felt her eyes on him the entire time and it was both disturbing and annoying at the same time. Fortunately, he was polite enough not to call her out in front of the entire class. He wasn't that cruel.

Making it out of the classroom door, he tried to remember where Emma had went after they'd parted earlier that morning. Then he remembered she'd traveled up the stairs. Now the only trick would be trying to figure out which way she'd turned. He had no idea what the layout of the school looked like.

He quickly walked up the stairs, pushing through the crowds of talking teenagers and when he arrived at the last step he saw her. The tingling sensation returned to him as he smiled at her.

She was with the other two girls he'd seen earlier, Rikki and…well he didn't know the Brunettes name, because she hadn't yet told him, but he'd figure it out at lunch. Anyway, she was giggling about something, as were the other two, but it didn't look like the conversation was all that important. It was a perfect time to swiftly cut in.

Hunter took a deep breath in, gave himself a quick little pep talk, put one foot in front of the other and..bumped into someone. He looked down at whoever it was to apologize, but it wouldn't leave his throat after he realized who she was.

He sighed heavily. " Hello, Miriam."

" Hey, Hunter." Miriam said, as Hunter ventured to take a step back. She was standing ridiculously close to him and he didn't really like it.

Hunter looked behind her to see if Emma was still standing where he'd seen her before. He didn't want her to get away before-

" So, how are you warming up to the new school, eh?" Miriam asked, trying to initiate conversation with him, though it was obvious he didn't want anything to do with her. But maybe she didn't notice? If that was so, Hunter would have to be more blunt.

" It's only been one period, so I can't really tell ya much." Hunter said as he attempted to move slowly to the side, he was trying to slip past, and get closer to Emma, but Miriam was having none of it. She knew he was moving and moved also.

Looking past her again, he noticed all three girls look towards him. He began to smile, thinking it was him they were taking notice of, but none of them made eye contact. They talked amonst themselves as they looked, and Hunter turned to see what all the comotion was about.

He found their gaze settle on a curly haired boy, a little shorter than Hunter himself, who when took notice of the girls stares, smiled, but mainly at one person. Emma.

And she smiled back. Oh, no. Did she like the kid?

As the boy drifted closer, Hunter once again tried to move. He wanted to get there before he did.

Once again, he was stopped by Miriam.

Miriam giggled at what she perceived as a joke coming from him. " Very true." she smiled, " Anyway, I was having a party, the first Saturday of Spring Break. Did you want to come?"

" Erm, I don't know." Hunter replied, distracted. He tried to move again but was again deflected.

The boy drifted closer, and the girls began to smile again, and Emma cheeks began to gain a little color. _Shit_, she did like the kid. Hunter had some damn competition. He didn't like that. He didn't like that at all.

" I throw the best parties, ask anyone." Miriam added, sounding a bit desperate. Damn, how was he going to get her out of his way before his window to speak to Emma completely shut?

" Look, I might be busy, I don't know if I can."

" Come on, at least consider it." Miriam said, growing impatient with Hunter. She pushed against him, but Hunter still didn't tear his eyes off the scene in front of him.

Rikki and brunette said a few quiet words to Emma before casually walking away. Hunter knew that they were giving Emma alone time with the boy. Rikki and the brunette, unsuspicously, leaned against a row of lockers not to far away, and pretended to talk as the boy neared.

" Okay, Okay, fine. I'll go." Hunter said, his eyes flashing to Miriam briefly, and gave her a look that said, 'I GOT IT. LEAVE ME ALONE.'

" Right! Well, I'll give you my number tomorrow, and text all the other information." Miriam said excitedly as she trotted off.

Hunter moved quickly, and tried his best to move through the crowd of students preventing him from getting closer to Emma quicker. But he was too late. The boy had reached her before him.

Hunter stopped walking, and let the crowd split around him. He just looked at Emma, as she giggled at something the boy had said. The boy didn't look as particularly starstruck as Emma did, and it was somewhat good news, but he sort of wished the looks were reversed.

They walked off together, and as Emma and the boy passed Rikki and the brunette, they both gave her a thumbs up.

Hunter sighed, shook his head, and walked back to where Emma said his math class should be. He tried to hold his head up high though.

Hunter wasn't one to give up easily, and who was to say anything would happen between those two? If anyone were going to prevent it, it was going to be Hunter.

He was determined.

* * *

><p><em>AN: This is just a short one. I planned it to be longer, but I thought this was a good place to end. More will be coming later on in the week, as I have school work and other things to do._

_If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a **REVIEW.**_

_Thanks!_

_Taylor(:_


	3. Lunchtime

Fortunately, Miriam was _not_ in his Mathematics class. It would've made Algebra even more painful, and he didn't need her constant chattering in his ear at the same time as the teacher rambled on about exponents.

When the bell rang, he stood up from his desk, grabbed his bag and headed for the door. Upon exiting, he realized he had no clue where to go for lunch. He'd forgotten to ask. But, he figured if he just followed the crowd, he would get there eventually. Some students walked very quickly, practically ran in one direction and he automatically assumed that the cafeteria was that way.

He'd finally arrived in less than two minutes. It was a very large room, filled with kids of all ages and all sizes.

It hadn't hit him until a few kids passed by him with lunch boxes that he'd totally forgotten his lunch. He reached into his back pocket for his wallet, and searched for the hot lunch line.

And that's when he saw the head of hair he'd been waiting for.

Emma was waiting at the end of the line, speaking politely to the lady behind the silver counter. Hunter walked up and stood quietly behind her.

" Ah, it smells delicious." Hunter said as he took a long sniff of the food. Getting the real scent of the food in front of him, what he thought looked like, sloppy-joe, he coughed. It didn't smell like any sloppy joe that he'd ever tasted.

" Or not." Emma said glancing back at Hunter and chuckled lightly at his disgusted expression.

Hunter smiled, " I was sort of hoping that maybe in this country the cafeteria food would taste a little better." he said, and the scanned the food table again, " I was wrong."

" By far." Emma replied as she took a bag of Doritos off of a silver rack of shelves. " I think that high school cafeteria food is universal; As unfortunate as that may be. I would only trust the packaged stuff, and the chips."

" By chips you mean French-fries?" Hunter asked, just to clarify. If he remembered correctly they called it different things in different countries.

Emma dismissed it with a wave of her hand, " French-fries, chips, same thing. They're both potatoes." she said, and Hunter smiled lightly.

" Right, then I'll get two sets then." Hunter said, partly to Emma and partly to the cafeteria woman. The lady had obviously overheard them talking about the food and didn't seem to be so happy about it. She nodded and pulled two red and white paper trays out from under a heating lamp. She handed it to him, and Hunter said his proper thanks.

He brought the two fries close to his face and examined it closely, it didn't look like it'd hurt. So he grabbed a plastic tray and put them ontop of it.

When the two reached a cooler, he grabbed a bottle of Pepsi. It'd been a while since he'd had some pop, since his parents hadn't gone out and shopped yet. Thinking of that, he'd hoped that they'd left a good sum of money at home so he could go out and get some groceries. They wouldn't want him to go hungry…he hoped.

He walked ahead of Emma, who was still choosing her selection. Waiting behind a boy, he checked back, just to get a glance at her, and realized she was struggling to get something off of the top row.

Instead of lunging in, or jumping up to get it, she kept staring at the bottle. Squinting, he realized she was looking at the precipitation on the bottle.

He didn't know why it was such a dilemma, but he wanted to help out regardless.

So, he walked over to her, and signaled with his expression for her to move over. Confused, she did so, and he stretched out his arm and easily retrieved the bottle for her. He turned and closed the cooler with the back of his foot, and looking at her full hands decided to keep it. He put it on his tray before saying,

" Don't worry, I'll hold it for you." Hunter replied, and she smiled gratefully. Entirely too grateful for a simple bottle of water, but it didn't matter to him. Maybe she was just extremely thirsty.

" Oh, thank you, Hunter." Emma replied, casually putting one of her smooth hands on his shoulder. He couldn't help but smile like a dork.

" You're welcome." He replied. They waited patiently for the students ahead of them, paid for their food, and walked together out of the cafeteria doors to the courtyard.

Sitting in the middle of the nicely cut green grass, were the two girls from earlier, and another he hadn't met. A blonde boy, who sat by the brunette who's name he still didn't know. They were huddled pretty close together, and Hunter immediately got the hint that they were together.

As soon as the reached the group, Emma spoke, " Move over guys, we have a new edition to the group."

Rikki looked confused, " I don't remember us taking a vote on this?" she said, a blonde eyebrow raised high. Hunter was a little taken aback, as he hadn't expected not to be welcome to begin with. He'd never had to be 'accepted' in order to talk to people. So he stood there dumbfounded, not exactly sure what to say.

Cleo nudged her, " Well, then I vote yes." she said, and looked reassuringly at Hunter and he was glad for her sympathy. He looked over at Emma and she rolled her eyes.

" Oh there's no vote Rikki." Emma said shaking her head, " He can sit with us. That's that." she said as she took a seat, and patted the grass next to her. He was relieved, and sat down between Emma and the boy he hadn't formally met yet.

Just as he'd thought it, the boy turned to him. His eyes were bright, and he stretched out his hand, " Lewis, nice to finally meet you."

Hunter lent out his own hand and firmly shook it with his, " Hunter." he said before taking his hand back. He'd had a comment about what the guy just said though, " Finally?" he asked.

Lewis shrugged, and took a bite of his sandwhich. He chewed a bit before swallowing and answering. " Well, besides the fact that everyone knows about you now, because of what happened this morning, and the fact that basically everyone is talking about you, you happen to be my neighbor."

" I do?" Hunter asked quizzically. He thought it was odd of Lewis to take notice of him, but then again, he hadn't been out of his new home since the day they'd arrived. He'd had no friends, so he'd had no reason to go out and explore.

" Uh huh."

" Oh, well that's cool."

" Very." Said the brunette. She glanced at Lewis again before looking back at Hunter, " Lewis is really good with Mathematics and things, so you basically have your own tutor less than five minutes away."

" Well, if math keeps going how it's going, yeah, I'll definitely need your help." Hunter said honestly as he looked at Lewis and he nodded.

" Oh no problem. Hop on over anytime." Said Lewis with a nod.

" I'm Cleo by the way," Cleo said to Hunter and he was glad he finally knew her name. He wouldn't have to keep calling her 'The Brunette anymore.'

Hunter nodded to her in confirmation.

His attention was turned to Rikki as she laughed randomly. Raised eyebrows were all around as they wondered what the hell was so funny.

" The testosterone level has significantly increased." Rikki said, chuckling, though no joke was said, and no one found anything funny. They looked at her to continue. "I bet Lewis is happy now."

" What is that supposed to mean?" Lewis asked.

" Well, there was none before Hunter got here." Rikki said and laughed. Lewis smiled wryly.

" Ha Ha, very funny." Lewis replied.

" I know, I'm hilarious. "

" Anyway.." Emma chipped in, glancing at Rikki before turning her gaze back to Hunter. " How was your first day so far?"

Hunter looked back at the two class periods he'd had. Besides Miriam and that curly haired boy that Emma was sprung over, it been alright. But he couldn't out right say anything about the boy, so he opted for the first.

" Classes were fine, I guess." Hunter shrugged, as he looked at everyone. " Only crappy part is this one girl in my English class. I never knew one person could be so annoying."

" What's her name?" Cleo asked.

" Miriam." Hunter answered, and everyone in the group unanimously groaned.

" _We feel your pain_." Rikki said to Hunter.

" So, I'm guessing none of you have had good experiences with her?" Hunter questioned, though the answer was obvious.

" Not a one." Emma answered.

Rikki nodded, " Let's just say if Miriam was on fire, and I had a bucket of water…I'd drink it."

At that joke, the group broke into laughter, and continued to chat nicely as the period went on.

Hunter was proud to say he'd just made four new friends.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Well that's it. I think i'm going to go ahead and make the chapters short and sweet in order to get them out faster. It's more efficient and easier for everyone, yeah? Next chapter and the chapter thereafter, everything will start to speed up._

_Leave a **REVIEW **if you enjoyed it. Tell me if i need to improve on anything w/ the characters or anything._

_thanks for reading!_

_-Taylor(:_


	4. Spanish Class

Hunter walked with Emma to their next class, heading to the farthest side of the building. While walking they chatted about simple things, mostly about lunch and mostly complained more about Miriam. She told him a story about a time that Miriam had gotten outdone one time in a pageant by Cleo and it was one of the funniest moments ever. She seemed like she'd left out a bit of it, but he didn't take to much notice to it.

" Speak of the damn devil." Hunter said as they came close to the classroom. Emma groaned quietly, but smiled politely. Not nicely, politely, and Hunter was glad to see she wasn't fake…unlike the person in front of them.

" Hello, Miriam." Emma said bitterly.

" Hello Emma." Miriam replied in the same tone. She looked to Hunter and then back to Emma, " Why are you hanging out with him?" she asked as she raised an overly manicured eyebrow.

" Last time I checked, I could hang out with whomever I liked." Emma retorted, eyes creasing.

" Not when _whomever_ you're hanging out with is obviously above you and your little group of twats." Miriam said, Emma scoffed and then Miriam changed her gaze to Hunter, " Really, you should find a better crowd."

" Look, Miriam, I don't know how far that stick has been shoved up your ass, but it's obviously effecting your word flow." He said, and Miriam's eyes opened wide. Hunter laughed on the inside. 'That's right, I said it!' he thought.

" Emma, like she said, can hang out with whoever the hell she wants. I'm not above her or her friends," Hunter added as Miriam started to speak. He put his arm around her, a risky move, but she didn't object. Hunter cut her off as soon as her mouth opened, " And I'm going to hang out with her…and the others as much as I want. And you're not going to say shit about it."

" And if you do, he won't listen." Emma finished up triumphantly, looking up at Hunter. Miriam's lips snapped shut and formed a straight line. They were triumphant, and she knew it. Hunter laughed and squeezed Emma's shoulder gently as she joined him.

With a huff, Miriam stomped off, and Hunter lost sight of her in the crowd.

Emma looked up at Hunter. " Good work." she said, " She needs a kick every once and a while."

" Yeah, and I'll be happy to give it to her." Hunter said and she smiled, making him smile involuntarily. It was quiet for a few seconds until he realized he was staring once again, and that his arm was still protectively around Emma's shoulders. She didn't seem to mind, and it was completely fine with him. Hell, his arm was all tingly… But he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable or for it to get awkward.

He coughed as he put it down, " We should ah, get to class, yeh?" he said looking down at her.

She nodded towards the end of the hallway, and if he wasn't imagining things, he could've sworn he saw her frown just a bit. But as soon as the look came it vanished. " This way."

After just a few minutes, they arrived at the classroom. They were quite early, and no one was really in the class, except for one girl, reading in the corner. Emma stood by him, as he spoke to the teacher, Senor Rodriguez.

" Hello, Sir." Said Hunter, as the teacher lent out a hand to him. He lent out his own hand and they shook hands firmly.

" Hola, Senor." Senor Rodriguez corrected him. Hunter assumed it was just like his class back home. The teacher he used to have always required him and the rest of his students to speak Spanish the entire period. They were let off sometimes, but the teacher figured since they were so far in Spanish, and knew so much that they could manage to speak in complete sentences and in complete conversations.

" Hola, Senor." Hunter said, fixing himself.

" Bienvendidos. Como se llama?" _Welcome. What's your name?_ Hunter ran through. That was one of the first lines he'd ever learned. Mr. Rodriguez picked up his grade book and looked at Hunter, ready to search for his name.

" Me llamo es Hunter Wright." Hunter answered, and watched as the teacher searched for his name. When he came across it, he nodded.

" Hunter, busca un asiento libre. Yo permito tu sientente en todas partes." _Hunter, find a free seat. I'll let you sit anywhere._

Hunter nodded thankfully. He'd have no problem sitting next to Emma if a seat was open there. " Gracias, Senor." _Thanks, Sir._

" De Nada." _You're welcome. _Senor Rodriguez replied, and then looked at Emma. " Buenas tardes, Emma." _Good afternoon, Emma._

" Buenas tardes Senor." _Good afternoon, Sir. _Emma said, smiling politely before the teacher sat back at his desk and Emma looked back at Hunter. " There's a free seat by me if you'd like to sit there?" Emma suggested.

" Yeah, sure." Hunter said. Like he'd pass that opportunity up.

" Excellent." Emma smiled again before leading him on. He'd have to remember to keep up all the smiling and giggling. It sure was a sight to see. And the fact that every time she did he'd get another set of butterflies wasn't too bad of a thing either.

They walked to about the third row from the front of the room, a little ways away from the dry-erase board. It wasn't to far back so that Hunter would pay no attention, but it wasn't to far in the front that he'd be forced to pay attention. It was satisfactory for him.

The desks were in columns, so when Emma sat down, Hunter sat down in the seat horizontal from her. Not knowing exactly what to get out, Hunter simply set his backpack down beside him, and looked to Emma as she got out her supplies.

" So you sound like you're actually good in this class." Emma asked as she retrieved a pencil from her bag.

Hunter shrugged, " I guess so. It's sort of a struggle sometimes, but y'know, I bounce back." he replied to her.

He'd gotten a B in Spanish ever since his first year of it. Now in his fourth year, he couldn't say he was exactly 'fluent' but he was pretty decent. He was good enough to the point where if he were to actually go to a Spanish speaking country, he would be able to get by.

" Well, Rodriguez isn't too hard on us, so if you did well before, you'll do well now." Emma answered, as she closed her bag, and organized the notebook, pencil and textbook on her desk. She then turned her body towards Hunter, focusing her full attention on him.

" Good to know." Hunter replied. And it was good news. That way, he could be as lazy as he usually was, and it wouldn't make a difference.

...

" Estudiantes! Pagina 16-25, Activitidades A-G, due manana!" _Students! Pages sixteen through 25, Activities A-G, due tomorrow! _Senor Rodriguez said after the two had finished a very long, and overly eventful class period, and Hunter's mouth dropped. It was about thirty minutes till the end of class, but there was no way he was going to finish all of the work before the class period ended, and it would take him quite a while to do it when he got home.

Hunter slowly turned his head towards Emma. " _Rodriguez isn't too hard on us_." Hunter mimicked, getting Emma's accent down perfectly.

She laughed at him, and smiled brightly, " Well, that's the case 80% of the time."

" 80%? Emma, that's not even a A. That's not very good odds." Hunter said, holding back another smile. It wasn't easy to look unsatisfied while she was grinning at him like that.

" Whatever." Emma said with a wave of her hand. " Look, he lets us work in partners, so I'll help you, and we can finish this just in time. Sound like a deal?"

Hunter pretended to question it for a bit, and then nodded. " Deal." he said.

Emma stood up slightly, just enough to scoot her desk and chair closer to Hunter, so that they're desks were touching each other. In order to get close enough to work, Hunter scooted a bit on the seat plate, and tried not to take notice of their knees touching.

Spanish. Spanish is what he needed to focus on. Not their bumping knees.

Pretty soon, the Spanish got old, and as they finished on page eighteen of their homework, they weren't to keen on finishing.

Hunter looked up at the clock, to see just how much time remained. It was about fifteen minutes till class ended, and since Mr. Rodriguez was entirely focused on a magazine, Hunter decided it was a perfectly good time to strike up conversation that didn't pertain to schoolwork. And, surprisingly, Emma beat him to it.

" So, what part of the US were you from, exactly?" Emma asked, looking like she was really interested.

" The Midwest. Illinois." Hunter answered.

" And you liked it there?" She added.

Hunter nodded. He really did, " Yeah, it's a pretty good place to live." he replied, " Our winters are cold as hell, but you get used to it. And by the time you're my age you're basically impervious to the cold." he said chuckling lightly. Winter's in Illinois were a bitch. Sometimes temperatures reached fifteen degrees below zero. Plus, if he remembered correctly, the winter before, there was snow build up up to his knees!

" So why did you move?" Emma asked. She seemed really interested in his background. But it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. If he planned on going anywhere (romantically of course) with her, she'd have to know about him.

" My parents are Marine Biologists, and they got offered a good job here." Hunter started, and frowned a little at the thought of retelling the story. Though he had made some friends, he was still extremely homesick, and missed everything and everyone. " I wasn't living with them, I hadn't for a while. And while they were in Florida, I was in Illinois. They didn't want me in another country, so they took me with them."

Emma looked at him sympathetically, like she felt for him. Hunter was actually pretty glad about that. " You miss the U.S, don't you?" she asked, and he nodded. " Ah, well hopefully Australia can try and match up."

Hunter smiled at her, " It's doing pretty well so far." Rikki, Lewis and Cleo were pretty awesome people. Not to mention Emma, who he was liking more by the minute. He could cope here, he thought, as long as he had some friends like that.

" So, what're they like?" Emma said, moving a little closer. Hunter felt his cheeks warm, and hoped that it wasn't too obvious that he was blushing because of her proximity. He looked at her, trying to see if she was getting the same reaction, but she only smiled. He didn't know what that meant.

" Who?" Hunter managed.

" Your parents."

Hunter shrugged. He didn't think she'd care to know about how they were complete assholes, so he gave her the slightly fabricated version. " They're cool. Very chill, but they're away a lot, so…" he trailed off. He thought that was a significant amount of info.

But before she could ask anything else, Hunter rebuttled. He didn't want to talk about his family anymore. " What about your family? What are your parents like?"

She seemed very happy at the question. As if she was happy he cared to ask, and as if she was proud of her parents. " They're lovely. They're always there for me, no matter what. I actually don't know what I'd do without them." she said, and Hunter wished he could say the same.

...

They continued with the small talk for a long time. They talked about music and things, and Emma got a kick out of hearing that Hunter was admittedly a Taylor Swift fan boy. She thought he was joking at first, but upon realizing he was serious thought it was cute, especially after learning that Taylor was the whole reason he'd decided to play the guitar.

They also talked about hobbies, things they'd like to do. Hunter liked to play basketball, go for walks, and swim. Swimming was actually something they had in common.

" How long have you been swimming?" Hunter asked, but Emma's expression looked odd. It seemed like it'd accidentally slipped out of her mouth and she hadn't meant it to.

" A very long time." Emma replied.

It was actually a good thing. Knowing this information, Hunter could probably get her to go to the pool, or maybe even the beach. This was his first date opportunity, he would be a fool not to take it. He took a deep breath and spoke,

" So, maybe we could go to the beach sometime? I've never really swam in a legitimate ocean before." Hunter finished, but she immediately shook her head.

" No, I..I erm, don't think that's a good idea." Emma replied, not looking at him, " I, don't swim anymore."

Hunter raised an eyebrow, " Oh? Why not?"

Emma didn't make eye contact with him, and just looked at her desk, " It's a long story." she sighed.

Hunter wanted to know the story, but he figured he shouldn't push it. If she was that touchy about the subject, he didn't want to go there.

" Sorry." Hunter said, feeling awkward. " I just thought—"

Emma shook her head and looked at him, a smile reappearing on her face, but it wasn't nearly as bright or sincere as before. " It's fine." And at that, the school bell rang. " Let's get to Chemistry, yes?"

* * *

><p><em>AN: Alrighty, that's it. I can tell you for sure, chemistry and what happens after will be exciting, so stay tuned._

_Leave a **REVIEW** if you enjoyed it, and keep checking back for more. I already have the entire story planned out, and it's gonna be good(:_

_thanks for reading!_

_-Taylor(:_


	5. Chemical Combustion

Hunter couldn't help but feel a little awkward as Emma and himself walked down the hallway. Every once and a while, he would glance at her, and she would seem to be in deep thought. Hunter wished he knew what exactly she was thinking about.

He hoped that whatever the problem was, it wouldn't majorly effect anything. He didn't want to offend her or anything like that. He'd just wanted to spend some time with her, and she said she'd like to swim. So wasn't a beach date a good idea? He'd thought so before...

Either way, the dating window was closed for a while, and he wouldn't be able to ask for a bit. But he wouldn't stop. He'd keep trying. Hunter wasn't one to give up.

It didn't take them long to get there. Their Chemistry class wasn't more than two minutes away, so it was less awkward for him. When they'd walked in, and their teacher had checked Hunter in, she too gave Hunter an opportunity to pick a seat, or in this case, a lab table, and he took a spot as Emma's partner.

The class began immediately as they sat down. Before Hunter had enrolled, the class had been doing something about temperature. So, for a lab project, the teacher, Mrs. Peterson, decided that they were going to make ice-cream.

For supplies, they needed ice, the industrial kind, salt, the kind used for sidewalks (when mixed with the salt, it made the temperature drop down enough for everything else to freeze), cream, and vanilla flavoring.

" Sounds fun." Hunter said, turning to Emma as the teacher let the class loose to start the lab. But Emma didn't look excited at all, and she wasn't looking at him. Instead, she was looking at the front of the classroom, were students were getting ice. Some of it was melted, which would probably be problematic if they were going to freeze anything, but if they did the lab fast it wouldn't be a problem.

" Are you okay?" Hunter asked.

She finally turned to him, and she looked nervous, " I just don't feel well." she replied, and Hunter nodded.

" If you're not up to it. I can do the lab for the both of us?" Hunter suggested. If she didn't feel good, he could help her out. It was the least he could do after that morning.

She nodded graciously, " That would be nice. Thanks."

" No problem." Hunter said, and stood up. He walked over to the supply table in the front of the classroom, grabbed a yellow, rectangular bucket, and all the other necessary equipment.

He walked back to their lab table, set the bucket on the desk, and began pouring the cream and vanilla extract into two Ziploc bags, their substitute 'bowls' for the ice-cream. He then put ice and street salt in two more empty bags, and put the two bags with the cream inside the others with the ice. That way each individual bag had another bag outside of it and there was less of a chance that salt would get into their ice-cream.

He then rubbed together the ice,salt, and ice cream bags, freezing the cream inside it. Every once in a while, he would look over to Emma, who still looked nervous. He was still confused as to why. He didn't know if it was a coincidence that she had the same expression in the cafeteria…

Ah, maybe he was just looking into it too much.

His gaze traveled around the room, and saw another familiar face. This time, it was the male that he had almost struck up a fight with earlier. Just his luck to be in a class with people he already disliked. The odds were not in his favor.

To kill the silence between Emma and himself that was slowly killing him, he spoke. " What do you know about Zane? Or think about him?"

Emma looked up at Hunter, looking like she'd been deep in thought about another subject. She looked confused about what was going on to say the least. " What was that?"

" I said, what do you think about Zane?" He repeated.

At his question Emma shrugged. She glanced behind him at Zane, before looking back at Hunter. She shrugged, " I don't like him very much at all really. Rikki is the only one who can tolerate him. For some reason they've been close lately. But since she is close with him, we have to tolerate him also. But he can be extremely annoying sometimes." she said, and sighed as if she was remembering a bad memory with him.

Hunter nodded. He didn't know much about Zane, besides the fact that he acted like he was really high up in the wealth food chain, and he was a drama starter. He was mystified by the fact that he was close with Rikki. He hadn't know her long either, but she wasn't an ass as Zane obviously was.

After more shaking of the bag, the first batch was ready. He took it out, and removed the salt and ice bag, putting it back In the bucket. He grabbed the spoon they were given, and tried to shake the water off of the outside of the plastic. As he did, in the corner of his eye he saw Emma jump back.

He raised an eyebrow, " Are you good, Em?" he asked again. She was acting really weird.

She nodded, " Yes, I just didn't want to get wet."

" Oh, sorry." Hunter apologized. He put the spoon in the bag and tried to dry it some. A bit of water was still smeared on, but he couldn't help that.

She looked at the bag, and shook her head, " Erm, you can have that one. I still don't feel good."

Hunter looked at her, " Alright, if you say so." he said, and took it back near him. He took the spoon and got a scoop of the homemade ice-cream before putting it into his mouth," You're missing all this deliciousness." he chuckled, trying to cheer her up, his mouth full of ice-cream.

It got a slight laugh out of her, " Ah well."

" I'll be right back! Don't start any trouble while I'm gone!" Said Mrs. Peterson before leaving the classroom. As soon as the door shut behind her, the volume in the classroom raised ten fold. But the loudest voice?

Zane's.

" Damnit!" Zane said, after their was a large crashing sound coming from his part of the room. Both Emma and Hunter looked back to see what the commotion was. As Hunter took another spoonful of ice cream, he noticed that all of Zane's supplies were spilled all over the floor. " You idiot!" he yelled at his partner, " I said it was going to fall if you kept shaking the damn bag to hard, and look what happened!"

Hunter looked at his partner, the boy, who looked as small as a freshman, shook under Zane's glare. Hunter felt really bad for the kid. The kid didn't look like he was going to defend himself, and the other students didn't look like they were going to defend him.

" Maybe if you did your own project, instead of forcing your partner to do it for you, that wouldn't have happened." Emma spoke up, and Hunter nodded in agreement. A nod that said, 'Damn right!'

" Really? And you're one to talk." Zane said, stepping around the mess and up towards their table, " I didn't see you lift one finger this entire time." he said, and though Emma's angry expression didn't change, Emma quieted. Hunter wished she hadn't, and just said she was sick like she'd said to him, but she didn't.

Zane neared, his eyes narrowed. " So you can shut the hell up, and mind your own business."

Zane was too close for Hunter's comfort. This was just the kind of person Hunter didn't like. Zane was being an asshole to Emma, for no reason other than he felt like it. That wasn't acceptable, and Hunter wasn't just going to sit there and observe.

Just as Zane was a little less than a foot away. Hunter stepped between them. " And you can shut the _fuck_ up, and go on back to your table alright?" he said, his voice getting low and threatening.

" Oh, look at you." Zane laughed, " Standing up for your new little Australian crush." he smirked. " Don't think I can't tell." Zane whispered to him. Hunter didn't dare look back at Emma, it would be too embarrassing for him. Part of him wanted to acknowledge the fact that Zane was spot on, but part of him said it would be best that she wouldn't find out that way.

Then Hunter knew that Zane's main goal had been to embarrass him. And that pissed him off. " Shut up Zane. It's not even about that." he said, trying to get his temper under control, but it wasn't working. It was hard to calm down when Hunter got this riled up. " It's about the fact that one little thing happened with you, and now your acting like a little bitch. So, like I said, go on back to your table."

" What if I don't want to?" Zane asked, getting in Hunter's face. " Who's going to make me?…You?"

" If you keep pushing me, yeah." Hunter responded through gritted teeth.

And that's just what Zane did. Pushed him. And as Hunter stumbled a step backwards, Zane socked him right in the eye, causing him to fall completely over. He knew before he collided with the floor that that punch would leave a bruise.

On his way down, he knocked into Emma's chair, but luckily she stood up before she went along with her chair.

He didn't feel the pain, just the shock, until his head slammed into the tiles of the floor.

Pain surged through his head. His heartbeat was all through his face, especially where Zane had punched him. It felt like someone had grabbed a sledgehammer, and was trying to beat his head in. He closed his eyes tight, formed his lips into a straight line, to keep from yelling out.

The volume of the room went into silence suddenly. Like someone had pressed the mute button.

A warm hand was on his chest then, and then a voice. But he couldn't register the voice. It wasn't clear and was too muffled. It sounded like someone had put earplugs deep in his ears.

He felt another hand a second later, on his face. As feeling came back to him, he realized the hand was soft, smooth.

Then as reality hit him, he registered everything. There was shouting going on. A bunch of kids yelling. But there was a softer, more urgent voice. One he could recognize.

" Hunter? Hunter? !" Emma said. He realized that it was her above him, her hand on his chest and cheek, trying to wake him up. " Are you alright?" she added. He could only grumble in response; everything on his face hurt to much to talk at the moment.

" No, don't baby him Emma." He could hear Zane say, " He asked for it, and I just gave it to him."

" You know what? You're a real asshole." Emma said bitterly.

" An asshole? For giving him what he wanted?" Zane said, and Emma scoffed.

That's when the banging stopped and reduced to just a dull throb. It was just what he needed so he could manage to open his eyes.

He saw Emma above him, she'd turned her face back to him, and looked extremely worried. Her blue eyes were laced with concern, and although he thought it was really sweet of her, the last thing he wanted was to be pitied by someone he was trying to impress. " Are you alright?"

He didn't reply and looked at Zane who stood, arms crossed, with an annoyingly smug look on his face. Oh how Hunter wanted to smack it off. He wanted to get Zane for embarrassing him in front of the class...in front of Emma.

With a grunt, he sat up, and looked at him.

" Hunter, don't. It's not worth it." He could hear Emma say from behind him, but he shook his head. It wasn't even fair he'd gotten punched. Zane had caught him off guard. Hunter was taller, more muscular, bigger, and a better fighter than Zane. And Hunter wasn't one to go down without a fight.

Hunter charged at Zane, head low, and soon made contact with Zane's torso. He kept going until eventually Zane collided with the lab table across the room from him. Zane yelled out, and Hunter let go, and backed up, to see Zane rubbing his back, a pained look on his face.

Hunter smirked slightly, " Come at me again. I dare you."

Zane looked up at him, and rubbed his back once more, before nodding, " Challenge accepted." In a rush, Zane tackled him to the ground.

The both of them rolled on the floor, trying to get the upper hand. Hunter continued to get on top, managing to land a hit on Zane more than once, all of his hits were bound to leave bruises. Every rare chance that Zane got the upper hand, he would lay a few, some hits would be really sore in the morning, but it wasn't enough to stop him.

Hunter got the upper hand once again, and was tired of fooling around. Ignoring all the students chanting, 'Fight, Fight, Fight', and Emma who was still trying to get the two to stop, Hunter pulled his knee back, and slammed Zane between the legs.

" Shit!" Zane cried out, and his hand went right to his pants. He rolled over onto the floor, groaning. And Hunter took that time to stand up.

All the damage hit him at once, and he stumbled, but he didn't fall. He wasn't going to embarrass himself in front of her again. He looked down at Zane, pulled his leg back, and kicked him in the side. Another cry escaped him, and Hunter smiled.

As soon as he did though, he noticed his broken lip. He licked his tongue to get the blood off, but continued to smile. He kneeled down next to Zane, " You know not to mess with me now, don't you?" he asked, he didn't get an answer, but he hadn't expected one anyway.

He stood up, turned around, and looked at Emma, who was shaking her head in disapproval. He frowned lightly. He hadn't expected her to be happy about the fight, she'd told him not to in the first place, but he still didn't like her reaction.

" Sorry." Hunter said, and then wondered how many times he'd apologized to her that day. Maybe he was a bit too worried about her opinion. " I just..I couldn't let him—"

Suddenly, a waterfall poured over him. Ice, he knew it, ice was poured on him. As he shivered frantically, he heard Emma scream. He opened his eyes, and her shirt was covered with ice water. Before he could say anything or ask if she was okay, she was out of the door.

He turned around to see Zane, bucket still in his hand. The smug look had returned, and boy was he pissed.

Hunter yelled in frustration, it was all he could do before someone walked through the door, and it wasn't Emma.

Hunter's and Zane's eyes looked towards the door, and both of their eyes widened as they said in unison:

" Mrs. Peterson."

* * *

><p><em>AN: Uh oh. Someone's in trouble. And what happened with Emma?  
>Stay tuned!<em>

_Leave a **REVIEW **if you enjoyed. I'm always greatful for the feedback I recieve._

_Thanks for reading!_

_-Taylor(:_


	6. Anytime, Em

After the mishap, Mrs. Peterson forced Zane and Hunter to both stay after class and clean up the mess they'd made. They had to mop up the floor, straighten up the lab tables, and if there was un-melted ice, they had to pick it up and place it in the icebox.

But, she had been nice enough not to send him to the Dean, which he was more than thankful for. A dean's visit would've meant a call to his folks, and they wouldn't be too happy to know that he'd failed to act appropriately on the first day.

Instead, she gave Zane and Hunter detentions for the week. She also said that she would fail the both of them for the lab, unless they decided to redo the whole thing before leaving to go home.

Not wanting the F, he decided to stay and remake the ice cream. Thankfully, Zane had chosen to just take the F, and Hunter wouldn't have to hold in the urge to hit him again.

It didn't take him long. In fact, he was done so quickly, that after he'd made his first batch, he decided to make another one for Emma. He owed her; after all it was his fault that he'd gotten splashed. Zane wouldn't have poured the ice on Hunter if he hadn't started shit with the guy. But he wasn't going to let Zane disrespect his girl like—

No, Emma wasn't his girl. As much as he wanted her to be. But he still couldn't let Zane disrespect his _friend_ like that.

Hunter was shaking the ice and cream up when he heard the door shut behind him. " I'm almost done, Mrs. Peterson. I'll be outta your way soon."

" No, it's Lewis." Lewis said, and Hunter turned around to see him.

" Oh, hey Lewis." Hunter said, he was about to continue, but looking at Lewis' surprised expression he stopped, " What?" he asked.

" Woooaaah." Lewis said, walking closer to the guy, " What happened to your face?"

Hunter groaned, " Zane happened." he said, but then chuckled, " But you should see him. He looks worse than me." he added. And it was true. Hunter's face was a little broken up, but the pain of the small cut on his lip was already gone, and he didn't have a headache anymore.

" Why'd you all get into a fight in the first place?" Lewis asked as he leaned on the black lab table next to the bucket.

" He was fucking with Emma." Hunter answered simply, glancing at Lewis briefly, before refocusing on the bag. " He was being an ass to her, and I stepped in."

" Oh, she probably thought that was sweet of you." Lewis said, studying him.

'_I hope _so' Hunter thought, but didn't know if he wanted it be obvious to everyone that he was crushing on her. Hunter shrugged, " I don't know. Maybe she did, maybe she didn't." he said, trying to sound nonchalant about it.

Lewis laughed, " You like her, don't you?"

Hunter coughed. Was he really that obvious? " I…I what?" he asked, maybe he misheard him.

" You like Emma." Lewis smiled, as if he was onto something.

" I…Oh, shut up Lewis." Hunter said, and quieted as his cheeks began to redden. This was completely embarrassing to him.

" I could help you out. That is if you'd like me to." Lewis suggested. Hunter thought it was nice of him, it mean it was obvious that he was trying to help him out, so they could be cool. But, Hunter wasn't a noob. It's not like it was the first crush he'd ever had.

" Help me out? I don't need any assistance." Hunter said, laughing lightly. " I was always good in the girl department."

" You're saying you don't think I'm good in the girl department?"

" I never said that." Hunter said, looking up at him. But by Lewis' expression, he could tell that Lewis wasn't. He shook the bag a bit more, " Answer me this then. How many girlfriends have you had?" he questioned, and before he could speak Hunter added, " Eighth grade through now. Anything lower doesn't count."

Lewis sighed, " One." he admitted.

" Cleo?" He stated as a question, but he already knew, and Lewis nodded.

" Well, it's not that big of a deal, she seems like a great girl." Hunter told him, and Lewis smiled. A bright smile that told him he thought the same.

" Yeah, she…she's wonderful." Lewis said, and Hunter nodded. He would like to have that one day. Lewis looked back at Hunter, " So how about you? How many have you had?"

" Two." Hunter answered.

" Two!" Lewis repeated loudly, " Well you can't talk about me then can you?" he said, both eyebrows raised.

Hunter shook his head, " Oh, I can." he said glancing at him. He smiled, " I went out with my first for about 6 months. The other two years. So, I outrun you regardless."

" Why'd you break up with the last one?" Lewis questioned, and Hunter frowned slightly.

" Jen didn't want to try the whole long distance thing." Hunter replied, and sighed, thinking back to a little more than two months ago. " She said it'd be to hard for her, and that it'd be best to break it off and see other people."

" Did you love her?" Lewis asked, and Hunter was curious as to why he asked so many questions. But it wasn't bad to want to be informed, especially among friends, so he continued.

" I did." Hunter said, and then looked over at Lewis, " But, I don't think she loved me as much as I loved her."

" What about the one you went out for six months with?"

" Her too." Hunter said. You could say Hunter was a sucker for love. It just happened easily for him. Plus, he knew how to pick his girlfriends. It wasn't just willy nilly. They had to have personality, confidence.

" Funny thing was, my first girlfriend was from Australia." Hunter said, and he remembered meeting her vividly. " Her name was Bella. Met her when we docked here for a cruise. I was here for a week maybe, and even though she lived here, and I had to go back to the U.S, we were still together."

" So was it long distance, er..?"

Hunter nodded, " Yeah. And during that six months we'd only got to meet twice. And that's when I decided it was harder to stay in a relationship then. Unless we were in person I was never able to touch her, or hold her, or kiss her. And since I really wanted to it was hard. So, I broke it off.

" We keep in touch, but I haven't seen her since. She has a cell, but I can never meet up with her cause she moves a lot."

" Wow, so your like a…love guru." Lewis said, seeming completely intrigued by Hunter's relationship background.

Lewis' words got a laugh out of him. " I guess you could say that."

" Alright, all done." Hunter finally said. He held up the two bags of ice-cream to Lewis, and he nodded in approval.

" Why'd you make two?" Lewis asked as Hunter set the bags down and began to put the other supplies away.

" Well, Emma got water all over her from when Zane poured water on me after the fight, and she ended up leaving." Hunter started, " To make it up to her I was going to give her some ice-cream….OH! So it's a good thing you're here. Do you have her address?"

" It depends…can you give me a lift home?"

Hunter agreed, a little more than a half an hour later, he was at Emma's doorstep. Nervousness hadn't hit him until he had lifted his hand up to knock on the door. Then he got a bit shaky, and again, butterflies were in his stomach.

But he was already there, and there was no point in leaving. He took a deep breath, raised his right hand once more, and knocked three times.

He waited patiently, every second that ticked by left him both excited and absolutely mortified. They were one on one, out of school, and that hadn't happened before. What if he got tongue tied?

He made himself stay put, took another calming breath, and then the door opened.

Standing there was Emma, in the same clothes from earlier, but a different shirt, and her hair was up in a ponytail.

" Hunter?" Emma said, raising an eyebrow, " What're you doing here?"

Hunter lifted up the baggies of ice-cream, " I wanted to bring you yours."

" Oh, dear. You're face." Emma said as she studied him. He probably did look like shit now. It'd been hours, and his injuries had had time to change colors. " You didn't put ice on it?"

" I didn't get a chance to." Hunter answered. He'd been to busy trying to make the ice-cream and get there.

" Come in then, I'll get you some ice." Emma said, stepping aside and keeping the door ajar. Hunter had ice-packs and ice at home, but he would much rather be here. Plus, he wasn't that excited to go back to an empty house.

" Thanks." Hunter nodded and walked inside and she closed the door behind him. To his left was stairs, that he assumed was to the bedrooms, and to the right of him was a large room, filled with a couch, to chairs, a coffee table, and a tv. It looked crazily like Hunter's living room. It was just a bit larger.

He walked into the living room, and plopped on the couch. He cuddled into it, and was actually relieved. He hadn't realized exactly how tired his body was. But he'd had a stressful day so it was inevitable.

As soon as she'd left, she'd returned with an icepack in hand. " Here, lay down," she said, pointing to the couch and he did as instructed, " And put this on your eye." she finished, and put the icepack on for him. He put his hand over hers briefly before she removed it and returned it to her side.

She sat down on the floor next to his head, legs under her, and looked at him as he looked at her. He could tell that she was pitying him. He didn't much like the look, but was glad to know that she cared about his pain.

Remembering his reason for coming, with his free hand he held up the bags, and handed them to her, " They're kind of warm, my car wasn't cold enough." he apologized. He tried to keep them slightly refrigerated, but after dropping Lewis off, and trying to find his way over there, the temperature raised significantly.

She smiled kindly, and took the bags, " It's fine." she said, and put the bags In her lap, below where he could see. " Warm ice cream isn't too bad either." she added. At that moment, Hunter could've sworn he'd heard a slight crunching sound, like ice, but he dismissed it. Thinking he was imagining things.

She then rose her hands, one bag in each and put it in Hunter's free hand, and immediately he noticed the change. The cream wasn't soupy at all anymore. The liquid was still, iced, frozen.

The hell?

Had he imagined it melting in the car?

Before he could say anything to question the happening, she spoke, " You know, I don't think fighting is the best thing on your first day.." she stated with a raised eyebrow.

He knew she was right, hell he'd said that to himself. But like he'd said to Lewis, he wasn't going to just sit by like a scared little boy and let her get treated like that.

Hunter nodded lightly, " I know, but I wasn't just going to watch." he said to her, " Zane deserved what was coming to him. He shouldn't have talked to you like that." he finished, and she smiled.

" But was it worth it?" She asked quizzically.

" Yeah." Hunter nodded. For sure it was worth it. He decided he would stand up for her no matter what. It wasn't just the fact that he had a crush on her, but she was his friend. He was always loyal to his friends.

" Well, thank you, Hunter." she said genuinely, " For sticking up for me." she reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. After, she looked him in the eyes. It was probably for a few seconds, maybe not even above five, but it was longer for him.

And then she reached up, and kissed him on the cheek.

Hunter, cheeks ablaze, replied. " Anytime, Em."

They continued to talk and eat their ice-cream. Hunter ended up staying for hours. He found that it was really easy to talk to her, and he loved being in her company. Time seemed to stop in it's tracks every time she'd touch him. Even if it was simply a brief touch of the hand, he reveled in it, and she seemed to do it a lot.

Not that he was complaining.

It was a good thing. In his mind, if you frequently made contact with another, it meant you liked it. And if she liked touching him, it meant he had a chance.

Interrupting their chat was a knock on the door.

" I'll get it." Emma rose from the couch next to him where'd she'd sat, and walked out of the living room and to her front door. Hunter turned slightly to get view of the knocker.

" Oh, hey guys." Emma said as she stepped aside, and Rikki, Cleo and Lewis strolled in. The three looked at him oddly, as if wondering why he was there.

" Were you guys plannin' something?" Hunter asked them. If they were hanging, he wanted to hang too.

They shared a long look with Emma before looking back at Hunter. " It's girls night tonight." Cleo answered him, and the rest nodded.

" So then why is Lewis here?" Hunter questioned. They seemed kind of off, like they weren't telling him something. And last time he'd checked, Lewis didn't have boobs.

" I was just walking with them over." Lewis chumed in, " Y'know, it was getting dark and _late_ and no man should let a gal walk by herself alone at this _time_ of _night."_

Hunter raised an eyebrow. He kept looking at each of the girls as he spoke, like all the accentuated words he spoke were some kind of code.

The girls nodded eagerly, " Yeah, and we should really get to it." Cleo said, " We've got a lot of things to do. We have to paint our nails, watch The Notebook, talk abut boys…" she went on, and Hunter got even more disinterested as she went continued.

He raised his hands, " Well, I wouldn't wanna stop ya." he said getting up from the couch, as he did, Rikki and Cleo quickly took up the space.

He walked up to Lewis and Emma who still stood by the door. He looked to Lewis, who was looking back at him expectantly. Hunter was at first confused, but then caught on, " What? You want a ride home?"

Lewis nodded, " If you could?"

" Sure." Hunter nodded, he wouldn't make him walk home by himself. They were neighbors right anyway.

" Great. Thanks. " Lewis said gratefully, " I will meet you by the car." he said, turning about on his heels and walking outside to the toyota.

Hunter turned back to Emma, and stuck his hands in his back pockets, " So, I had fun." he started.

" Yeah, it was nice talking with you." Emma replied with a smile.

Hunter smiled dorkily, " Well, then we should do it again sometime?"

" Sure, I'd be delighted." Emma said, " Just, give me a call."

Hunter chuckled, " To do that, I would need your number." he reminded her. And she shook her head, mentally chastising herself for being forgetful. She grabbed a pen from inside of a drawer on the stand table beside the door.

She grabbed his arm, taking it from behind him, and pulled up his sleeve. Quickly, she wrote down her cell phone number. After she'd finished, she clicked the pen back in, and put it in her back pocket. " So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

" Mhmm." Hunter nodded, but couldn't help but notice she hadn't yet let go of his arm.

Again, he wasn't complaining.

" The _time!_" He heard Lewis shout from outside.

Hunter rolled his eyes, " Well, you should get going." Emma said, glancing behind Hunter at Lewis and giving him the look.

Hunter nodded, " Yeah." he said. He looked at her and contemplated whether he should give her a hug, like he wanted to, or just turn and leave.

It was odd that he had to think about it so much. He was getting so nervous around her, and that never happened to Hunter around girls.

Finally he decided that hugging her would be best, and so he did. She took him in openly, wrapping her arms around him, and he her. It was brief, but nice. She was warm, and she smelled good…her smell was really, beachy.

Finally they separated, and Hunter took a step out of the door, not being able to take the grin off of his face. " See you soon, Em."

" See you." Emma said, returning the smile and shut the door.

Hunter turned on his heel, and walked towards the car, with a little pep in his step, and said to himself,

" What a kick ass first day."

* * *

><p><em>AN: Alright! Well that's it for the sixth chapter. the seventh will be a bit short and should be out within the next few days._

_Leave a **REVIEW** if you enjoyed this chapter! All are much appreciated!_

_thanks!_

_-Taylor(:_


	7. Dear Diary, Journal Thing

TWENTY-NINE DAYS LATER…

Hunter and Lewis were at Hunter's house up in his bedroom. They'd agreed to hang out, since once again Hunter was left alone after his parent's went out on another excursion. They'd been back for about a week, but soon after left again. So far, Hunter and his folks had spent about two hours together. And that was when they'd decided to watch a family movie.

It wasn't much, but it was something.

Hunter sat as his desk, leaning over a sheet a notebook paper, as Lewis spoke to him.

They'd been talking about Hunter's recent failures in, well, the girl department. Lewis was getting a kick out of it, but Hunter didn't find it as humorous as he did.

" I have an idea." Lewis said, walking to the edge of the brown wooden desk, and sitting ontop of it. He looked down at Hunter. " Write it down. Start a…book of sorts. It might help you figure things out."

Hunter raised an eyebrow, " You mean, like a diary?" he said. If so, no way. Diaries were for chicks. What would he look like?

Lewis rolled his eyes," No, no. Like a journal." he continued on, " Maybe, by talking about it, you'll figure out a solution." When Hunter didn't look at all convinced, he sighed, " It's therapeutic. Trust me."

" What, do you have one?"

Lewis crossed his arms, " I do as a matter of fact." he said and reached behind him. In a small, metal cylinder were a bunch of pencils and pens. Lewis grabbed a sharpened pencil, and handed it to his friend. " Write down everything that's happened this past month, it'll help."

Hunter took the pencil and looked at it, " You better be serious, Lewis."

" I am." Lewis said, hopping down. " Anyway, it's getting late. I have to leave." he added, walking forward, and picking up his bag from beside Hunter's bed.

Hunter didn't move, staring at the paper. The whole aspect sounded stupid to him. Plus, what would it do? It'd make him dwell on the shitty happenings, and he wanted to forget about it.

" Well, get to it." Lewis said from behind him, " See you in the morning." he added, and left Hunter's room.

" Bye, Lewis." Hunter sighed, as he looked at the paper again.

If he thought about it, it really couldn't be that bad. Lewis and him were good friends now, and Lewis wouldn't feed him a bunch of crap. He trusted the guy's judgement, so he turned back to the paper, put his pencil on the top of the page, and began to write.

_Dear…erm, Journal,_

_Lewis sort of forced me to write this, to sum up my feelings and tell what's happened to me within the past month. _

_Well, in short, it's been an adventure, and a little crappy._

_-HUNTER._

Hunter looked at the paper and sighed. That was definitely not what Lewis meant. So, Hunter set his pencil down, ripped the sheet out of his notebook, and shot it to the small metal garbage can across the room.

He looked back to the paper, and took a deep breath. He had to be honest with the writing. He had to be particular and specific if he wanted it to work like Lewis said it would. So, he relaxed a bit, picked up his pencil and began again.

_Dear Journal thing,_

_This past few weeks have been an adventure._

_It hasn't been easy at all, but I knew that it was gonna be like this. Moving to a totally new country isn't easy. Ask anyone._

_My parents haven't really been around to help me out like they should, but thankfully I have friends that have. Four of 'em._

_They're really cool people, and even though other people have come up to me, and talked and I've gotten along with them, those four are the only ones that I know will stick with me completely, and that's not something that everybody is able to find._

_All of them are weird, and sometimes there's something off about them, like a secret something they're not telling me…but, whatever, y'know?_

_Cleo and Rikki are really awesome. Rikki's constant smart-assery is _extremely _entertaining, and Cleo's chill, sweet personality is refreshing._

_My bud, Lewis, the one who told me to write this, has become the best guy friend a dude could have. He's a little dorky, well…REALLY dorky, but he's a really cool kid. I can basically trust him with whatever…especially with the girl problems that I never thought I'd have difficulty dealing with._

_And that brings me to my last friend, the girl, Emma. _

_She's fuckin' brilliant, and maybe that's why I can't seem to get through to her. _

_Usually I'm really good at reading people. I'm really good at catching on, knowing what's next and all that. But Emma? She just confuses the hell out of me, and I can't figure her out._

_I liked her the first day I met her, and I still like her, but I…I don't know if she likes me. And, Jesus christ, it's frustrating._

_She gives me mixed signals. It's like she's onto me one minute, and the next, it's like she has no interest in me. It always happens. Especially when we're around Byron. She goes all googly eyed, and it sucks that she never looks at me like that. Sometimes it seems like she does, but when those looks between Byron and I are compared, it's obvious who she wants._

_And it sucks that that's not me._

_I thought at first it was because she didn't know me enough. So, I always talked to her in class, encouraged lots of conversation, and she would always go with it. She'd always seemed delighted to know about me. Sometimes, I'd retaliate, ask her about herself, and she'd clam up, but I didn't mind. As long as she got to know more about me I thought I'd have more of a chance, and that she'd see I was better than Byron._

_But it hasn't been working, so obviously Byron must have something I don't...__And I'm thinking it's probably history._

_Lewis told me that they were sorta together once, earlier in the year, so I figured the feelings for him would eventually fade for her, but they haven't, and I think she still might be hooked on him._

_So then I thought that talking to her wasn't enough. And every time in class, when our convo would hit a peak, I'd ask her out. JuiceNet, the movies, a walk on the beach. And she'd always say 'No'. It hit me, blew out my confidence (and a bit of my self esteem) every time. _

_I don't know why she won't give me a chance. _

_If she did, I could show her. I could show her that I'm better than Byron…if she'd just give me a damn chance. _

_At this point, I don't know what to do. I feel like I should just give up. Maybe we're just meant to be best buds._

Hunter groaned and sat back in his chair as he stared at the page. That was a terrible idea, and he knew he didn't like it. He read the sentence over again, and the line unsettled him. Giving up wasn't Hunter. Though it seemed like there was really no point, Hunter still had to try…

_But you know what? I'll try, one more time. If she doesn't like the idea of a usual date, I'll say that I need help in Spanish. I obviously don't, but maybe if it doesn't seem like a date, she'll be more tempted to go with me. _

_Actually, that's a wonderful idea. And I'm gonna do it. Tomorrow at school, I'm gonna ask her, and then after we study I'm gonna go for it. I'm gonna tell her how I feel, because this whole subtlety thing isn't working._

_If I want a relationship with Emma, I'm just gonna have to put it all out there._

_Wish me luck._

_I'm probably gonna need it. _

_-HUNTER._

* * *

><p><em>AN: How's Hunter's confession gonna go? Keep reading to find out!_

_Please leave a __**REVIEW **__if you liked it!_

_Thanks for reading!_

_-Taylor(: _


	8. Everything Right

_A/N: Why __this chapter took me so long, I have no idea. But it's worth the wait. It's a long read, going on almost 4,500 words, so it's two times more than what I usually put out. _

_So, let's get to it, shall we?_

_ENJOY_

* * *

><p>After dressing and getting over the initial fear over even asking Emma out for a study date, Hunter walked downstairs and got into his Toyota. As soon as the garage door was all the way up, Lewis walked inside, got into the passengers seat and buckled himself in.<p>

" So how'd it go yesterday?" Lewis asked as Hunter backed the car out of the garage and shut it behind them. He drove down the road towards their school.

Hunter shrugged, " I guess it went well." he said, glancing over at his friend, " I sort of have a new plan of action now."

" And what's that?" Lewis asked, seeming intrigued…and a little cocky. Of course his plan had worked like he said it would.

" I'm going to ask her to study with me tonight." Hunter said, the corners of his mouth tilting up. He glanced over at Lewis only to see both of his eyebrows raised. " What?"

" Nothing." Lewis said, " I just thought, you know, it'd be more pow." he said raising his hands and wiggling his fingers.

" More _pow_?" Hunter asked. He thought it'd been a good plan.

Lewis shrugged, " You know, I thought it'd have more pizzaz."

" Did you really just say _pizzaz_?" Hunter laughed.

" I did as a matter of fact." Lewis replied, and Hunter rolled his eyes. " But I mean if you think it'll work.."

" Trust me. It will." Hunter replied confidently, though he wasn't entirely sure. But if it didn't go his way, well, at least he tried, right?

...

The first periods of the day had dragged on endlessly for him. Between Miriam's constant chatter, that'd become an everyday thing, and his math teacher basically teaching him algebra in a different language, it seemed that the hours were ticking by oh so slowly.

But finally the bells had rung, he'd gone an eaten lunch with the crew, and he was now in Spanish, next to the biggest crush he'd ever had.

Emma Gilbert.

After they'd sat in their respective seats, Senor Rodriguez quieted the class and began to speak.

" I am allowing you all to have a review period." He said, his Spanish accent heavily leaking into his English, " We have a big test tomorrow on Chapters 4-8, and it counts for about 25% of your grade."

The entire class groaned in unison then, and Mr. Rodriguez shushed them, " But, it should be very simple, because you all will take this review sheet _and_ go home and study, right?"

" Si, Senor." The class said, but didn't sound enthusiastic or relieved by his comment.

Walking along the rows, the teacher began to pass out pale green packets to each student. When Hunter got his, his mouth dropped. He looked up at the teacher. " You're joking." he said, looking from the paper to him and back again.

" No, actually I'm quite serious." Rodriguez replied, " Unless you want to fail the class, lower you GPA, not go to college, and then end up on the street hastling pedestrians for money, senor."

Hunter's mouth formed a straight line. Damn, why'd he go into so much detail. Thinking of a reply, he smiled, " Well I'll be sure that you're the first one I'll hastle." he said smartly, and heard Emma talk beside him.

" He got you there, didn't he?" Emma chuckled, and Hunter smiled once again.

Rodriguez looked like he didn't find it at al entertaining at first, but then smiled like the others. " I guess he did." he said, and walked away.

As he did, Hunter sat back in his seat. This was the perfect opening for him. What's more important to study for than a test that big? Nothing, that's what.

Channeling his acting chops, he picked up his bag, and shoved the review packet in with a sigh. Just like he predicted, Emma looked over at him oddly.

" You're not going to do it?" she asked, her voice laced with confusion.

Hunter inwardly smiled, it was working so far. " Well I mean, what's the point?" he said, looking over at her, trying to look as hopeless as possible without seeming fake. " These last few chapters have been ridiculously confusing. There's no way I'm going to be able to pass that section of the test, so whatever."

" Hunter…" Emma began, turning her body towards him. She looked like she believed him, which meant he hadn't sounded too ridiculous, " That's no way to look at it. If you study hard… "

" That's the thing. I don't even know how to study right for Spanish." Hunter said. He thought that sounded a bit dumb, but he just went with it. " I mean, if I had some help maybe. But.." he trailed with a shrug.

Emma nodded, " I see what you mean. Most of the time it is easier to study with someone, rather than studying alone."

Hunter nodded in agreement. " Right." he said, and was waiting for her to offer to study with him. But she didn't catch on. " Here's a thought." Hunter said, turning towards her, " Maybe we could study together." he said, as if the idea had just popped into his head and he thought it was fantastic.

Emma then nodded, wearing the same incredulous expression as him, as though she hadn't thought of it. " That's not a bad idea." she said.

YES. _YES YES YES YES YES YES!_ Hunter shouted in his head. It wasn't at all a date, but hey, it was something, and she didn't say _no._

" Awesome." Hunter said and smiled big, not being able to hold it any longer, " Your place or mine."

" Mine is fine."

" Sounds good."

…

" See, I told you I could do it." Hunter said to Lewis as they drove home from school. Lewis and Hunter said there goodbyes to the girls, and left off. Hunter was meant to meet up with Emma in an hour at her place to study for the test, and Hunter was pumped.

Lewis chuckled, " I actually didn't know it would work." he said, looking over at his friend, " You must have pretty good acting skills."

" You'd be surprised." Hunter smiled. No way was that a thing that he did in his spare time, but he could act as much as necessary to get what he wanted. And if a little lie about needing to study was necessary that's just what he'd do.

" So what do you plan on happening tonight?" Lewis asked, sounding curious, " Are you going to go for it?"

Hunter shrugged, " If I don't wimp out, definitely." he replied. That was the only thing. He wanted to spend time with Emma out of school, but he also wanted to tell her how he'd been feeling for the past month. The only thing was, he didn't know if he'd get shy when the time came.

Hell, he'd wanted to tell her before tonight, but every time he'd try and every time he had an opening he'd change his mind. Honestly, all he was afraid of was definite rejection. He didn't want her to tell him she didn't reciprocate his feelings and he didn't want the door of opportunity to close on him forever. Then he'd really be down.

" When are you heading over?" Lewis asked Hunter as they pulled up to Hunter's house and parked in the driveway. He shut off the car, took out his keys and looked at Lewis.

" In like 15 minutes." Hunter said as they both stepped out.

Lewis nodded, " I hope everything goes well."

" You and me both, bro." Hunter said. " You and me both…" he walked up to the door that led into the house from the garage. " I'll update you in the mornin'."

Lewis nodded, " Got it." he said with a small wave and walked across the lawn to his own house as Hunter shut the garage door.

After it was completely shut, Hunter rushed into the house and upstairs to change. He didn't know if that would be odd, since they were just studying. Would it be unnecessary to change clothes? He didn't want to ruin his cover by doing so.

It wasn't an official date, just studying.

" Casual then." Hunter decided as he jogged up the stairs and down the hallway to his room. Opening the door he walked over to the dresser, took out a pair of comfy black sweatpants and threw it behind him onto his bed.

He continued to rake through all the clothes he had in his drawer, until he finally just picked a simple wife-beater. It'd been at the top of the pile, and Hunter didn't know why it wasn't the first thing he'd picked up to begin with. He threw it onto the bed, along with his sweatpants.

Grabbing a clean pair of socks, he gathered up all the things he'd taken out, and walked to the bathroom. Even though he'd taken a shower that morning, he didn't smell as fresh as he'd wanted, and spraying himself with Axe wouldn't do anything. So he decided to take another one. It didn't hurt to be clean.

He hadn't realized he'd taken so long until he'd after he'd hopped out of the shower. Wrapping his white towel around his bare waist, he walked over to the bathroom counter and picked up his cell that sat atop it. Checking the time he realized it was five minutes to four. Meaning he had about ten minutes to be up and out on the road. He didn't think being late would look good.

Putting the phone down, he rushed to open the bathroom drawer and take out a comb and brush. He combed his dark brown hair out, and then shaped it in its usual style. He put that stuff away and then scrubbed his teeth with the toothbrush until they were so white the could probably blind you.

Finished with all that, he quickly walked to the other side of the room, where his clothes were. Putting them on, he shoved his cell in his pocket, grabbed his keys, and ran downstairs to his car. He started it, put his belt on and rushed out to Emma's.

Ten minutes later, Hunter's car was in Emma's driveway and Hunter at her door. He just hadn't knocked yet.

His hand was in a fist, and inch away from the door's wood, but he didn't push it forward. He didn't know why he was getting all choked up at that moment. He'd prepared, so it really shouldn't have been an issue. He sighed, irritated with himself.

Here he was, standing in front of a door, too afraid to knock. When had a situation like that ever happened to him? Never. He was never afraid, or nervous or shy around a girl. But then again, maybe Emma wasn't _just_ a girl. Maybe that's why he liked her so much.

" Suck it up, Wright." Hunter said quietly to himself, " Stop acting like a chick. Be a man and—"

Then the door opened. And standing on the other side, looking at Hunter with his hand raised, and his mouth wide open was Emma.

_Crap. _Hunter thought. _Way to look like a doofus. _

" Hello, Hunter." Emma said as Hunter slowly put his arm down and brought it back to his side. She looked at him oddly, but otherwise didn't acknowledge his previous behavior. Thank god for that. Instead, she smiled, and stepped aside. " Come on in."

Hunter nodded, " Thanks." he said as he came in. As she shut the front door, Hunter turned to look at her. " Alright, so where are we studying?"

Emma looked at him and pointed behind her. " My room." she answered. She glanced at the living room and then back at Hunter.. " I haven't gotten a chance to really clean up in there so I figured we'd head upstairs." she signaled for him to follow her up, and he did.

" Plus, I have a computer up there so if we need any further assistance…"

" We have the good old internet on our side." Hunter finished, and Emma laughed and nodded.

" Exactly."

They walked down a hallway and turned into the first door on the right. She had a nice room. It was very clean, very kept up, very…blue. No, really. Almost all of her furniture was a light blue color. It wasn't bad, but it was obvious what her favorite color was. Not that he hadn't already noticed.

As he walked further inside, he noticed a spot on the floor. There were two nicely padded pillows on the floor, set around those pillows were papers from their Spanish class, a bowl of popcorn and two bottles of water.

Hunter raised an eyebrow. She'd really set up for the night. That was really nice of her and Hunter couldn't hide his smile. He looked over at her, and found she was smiling too. She shrugged. " I didn't know if you'd eaten yet, so…"

Hunter shook his head, " No, I hadn't." he said, " Thank you."

Emma nodded to him, " You're welcome." she answered. She walked over and sat down on one of the pillows, and patted the open one next to her. " Let's get to it, shall we?"

Hunter nodded and set his own backpack down behind the pillow, " Yup." he said, sitting down on the pillow beside her. He wasn't close enough that they were touching, but he was close enough to feel her heat. It was a shame that even that made him blush.

" So where do you need the most help?" She asked him, picking up a pencil from next to one of the sheets of paper.

It wasn't until then that Hunter realized he hadn't exactly planned this part out. He began to freak out on the inside. He didn't have anything he needed help on, so what could he ask for help on?

To bide his time, he turned around and opened his backpack. Pretending to search for something, he racked his brain. Asking about simple stuff wouldn't work. She'd see right through that. Hunter was having 'trouble', but Emma knew he wasn't an idiot, so if he asked for something simple, she'd know he was lying.

" Once sec. I think I marked it in my packet…" He said, trying to break the now unnecessarily long silence. Finding the review packet he took it out, and turned back to her. He flipped towards the back of it, thinking the more complex things would be farther in.

He was wrong.

The material began to get easier and easier as he went on. Maybe this test wouldn't be too hard at all. Which, at the moment _really_ wasn't a good thing.

_Just my luck, eh?_

" Well, I've really been having trouble on thee, erm…" Hunter scanned the pages again. He could feel Emma's eyes on him and he knew she was wondering what the heck was taking so long. " How to conjugate past tense. You know the subjunctive form…er something." he said. He looked up at her for confirmation, to see if she was suspicious yet, and she didn't look it.

She nodded, and leaned over to look at what page it was in the packet. " Really it's simple." she said to him. She turned to the same page in her own packet. He looked over at it and saw that she'd already filled that page out. That didn't take her long at all. " It's really the same as every other verb, except they have an opposite ending…" she explained to him.

" Err, what's that mean?" Hunter asked, but knew he didn't sound very convincing.

Emma nodded, but didn't look suspicious. She looked more understanding. " It's a bit confusing. It took me a while to get it, but look…" she said, scooting closer to him. First their shoulder's bumped, then their knees, and to avoid the rather large dorkish grin he could feel coming on, he busied his mouth by stuffing a few pieces of popcorn in it.

It worked marvelously.

His eyes drifted to her, to see if maybe she'd been affected, maybe felt the same tingly feeling as him. Her lips quirked up ever so slightly, but besides that, nothing. She was either really good at hiding her emotions, or it didn't effect her at all.

He wished he could tell the difference.

It went on like that, for almost two hours. It was actually starting to frustrate him. He didn't want to try anything if he wasn't sure any feelings were reciprocated. It was getting late, and he was running of things to pretend to have trouble with…

Hunter began to fill out another page with a bunch of practice problems on it. Emma said it'd help him more if he kept writing the words over and over and that repetition was key. So he did. But, since he was getting frustrated, and tired, he didn't remind himself that he should take it slow. And to think of it, he'd been doing that with more than half of the other things she'd told him to do.

He hadn't noticed he was slacking, but by the way Emma was looking at him, she sure had.

" You're really catching on quickly Hunter." Emma said, looking over his shoulder.

Hunter grunted in response, not really catching onto her suspicious tone of voice. He couldn't tell she was starting to see right through him.

" It's almost like you didn't even need to study." Emma added, as Hunter quickly filled out the rest of the first page, which had close to thirty problems on it, and flipped it over to begin the next.

Hunter nodded lazily. " It's really easy." he said, " Probably gonna ace the test." he said, eyes still on his paper.

" Ace the test, hm?" Emma countered.

Hunter nodded again, " Yeah, no prob—" Hunter looked up from the paper and shut his mouth. Talk about word vomit. He brought his eyes to hers, and went cold seeing the look of suspicion on her face. Mhmm, she'd definitely caught him. He coughed, trying to pretend he hadn't said what he just said, even though there'd been too long of a pause. Suddenly, he'd decided that he didn't want to admit his real reason for studying.

" I mean, agh, Spanish…" Hunter started, trying to think of another intelligent reply. " Why does it have to be so difficult." he said, raising his hands and gesturing to further make his point.

Emma sighed and shook her head. She set her packet and pencil down in front of her, and turned to face Hunter. " You don't really need any help, do you?" she asked, and as Hunter readied to tell her another lie, she held up a finger. " Be honest, Hunter."

Hunter looked down, and rubbed the back of his head. He felt a bit like a toddler getting caught for stealing the last cookie out of the cookie jar. It wasn't exactly a time to lie. She caught him, the jig was up. He'd had a feeling she'd be too smart for that stunt. But he still couldn't find the guts to tell her why he came. Now that he thought about it, it really did seem like a childish idea, and he doubted she'd like it.

Still, it was worth a try. If there was any time to tell her how he felt, it was now.

He looked back up, and as his blue eyes made contact with hers, he didn't feel so nervous anymore. She didn't look angry, or agitated, that he'd wasted her time. Instead, she just looked genuinely curious, like she really wanted to know. And so, Hunter wasn't so scared anymore.

Taking a deep breath, Hunter began. " Honestly, Em, I just wanted to spend some time with you, outside of school, y'know? But every time I'd ask, you'd turn me down." he said. She looked a bit sympathetic and moderately shocked, like she hadn't noticed. " So, I figured, maybe if I made it so it wasn't really a date and wasn't really formal, you'd actually say yes for once. I knew it was just studying, but at least I could spend some time with you.

" And that Byron kid, he always gets to hang out with you. I figured I'd be able to see why him, instead of me." Hunter finished. He couldn't help but feel like a pathetic child. To him, he sounded so, needy. But he couldn't help the way he felt.

" You know about Byron?" Emma asked him. And Hunter wondered if that's all she got out of what he'd just said.

" I know that it seems you like him." Hunter shrugged, " Plus, you never seem to let him down, as much as you let me." he added quietly.

" Hunter, I didn't mean to." Emma said, sounding incredibly sincere. So sincere, in fact, that he couldn't really be as irritated with her for rejecting him as he should've. " It's just that Byron—"

" How do you feel about him?" Hunter asked. He wanted the answer, but he was starting to get nervous. He could feel himself beginning to perspire.

She kept eye contact with him for a long time. It looked like she was debating whether to tell him what was up or keep it to herself. He honestly wished she could just be honest with him. He was honest with her.

Finally, she spoke. " It's a long story." she said simply, and Hunter frowned once more. Definitely not the answer he was waiting for.

" Well, I have a short one." He realized then, that it was now or never. He had to put it all out in the open. If she wasn't going to say anything, then he sure was. He was tired of waiting for signs and hints that he was starting to think weren't ever going to come. And even if she didn't feel the same way? Well, at least he went for it.

Hunter looked her right in the eye, shook off his nerves and spoke, " Look, Emma. I like you. _A lot_. And all I want you to do is to at least consider the fact that I might be good for you. " he said, and her face softened even more. If he wasn't mistaken, she actually looked like she was happy to hear the news. But again, he couldn't tell. And it was driving him to the point of insanity.

She looked at him, didn't speak, and the tension in the room was crazy. He could almost see the gears turning in her head, processing what he'd said to her. He knew then that she had been able to tell for a long time what he felt for her. And just by looking at her, he could see that she had some feelings for him. And even if there wasn't a lot there for him, there was _something_.

But there was something else that he saw. Some indecision. She was conflicted, but he didn't know about what. But he could bet money that it had something to do with that Byron kid.

She opened her mouth to speak, and something inside Hunter clicked. He realized, he didn't want to hear the answer. He had a feeling it might not be something he wanted to hear. So, he decided to let his actions speak. After all, actions always spoke louder than words.

Taking a deep breath, and another look at Emma, he leaned his head close and put his lips to hers.

Scaring him, she didn't move at first. Hunter opened his lids just a bit, just enough to see her face. She looked shocked, caught off guard, and in that split second, Hunter prayed to anyone who would listen that she'd just give in. It was obvious she wanted it, at least a little, because she hadn't pulled back.

And someone answered him. Slowly but surely, he saw Emma close her eyes and a pleased look come to her face. So Hunter went and closed his, allowing himself to sort of melt, and finally give in to what he'd been waiting for for a month. All the nervousness and fear he felt before as he spoke to her earlier suddenly evaporated, and his confidence returned. He felt good. It was a pure adrenaline rush, and he tingled all over.

Soon in, he began to move his lips against hers and she moved hers against his. She brought her warm hand to his cheek and her thumb began to graze his cheek.

Just as he was going to pull her closer, he was pulled out. Hunter's eyes flashed open, quick enough to see Emma scoot back and away from Hunter. In response, Hunter raised his eyebrows. What the hell happened?

He looked at Emma, and she looked almost scared. Almost…almost like she'd made a mistake.

" What?" Hunter said quietly.

Emma stood up quickly, " You need to leave." she said, walking out of the door. Hunter, groaning, jumped up and put his stuff back in his bag, before picking it up and going after to her.

" Emma?" He said aloud, following her down the hallway, " Emma? What's wrong?" He asked. He was ridiculously confused now. What the hell had he done wrong?

She continued to walk quickly, and he followed her all the way to the door. She had it open and was standing by it before Hunter even got to the bottom step. She wasn't looking in his direction, and her gaze was aimed at the wall ahead of her.

He walked out of the door, since it was obviously where she was aiming for him to go. She really wanted him out? Then he would go.

But he wanted a reason.

Hunter spun around, and looked at her. He sounded desperate now, " Did…I do something wrong?"

Emma shook her head, but he found it hard to believe. " No, I…I just…" she took a breath, before continuing. She looked at the ground briefly before looking him in the eyes, " Look, Hunter, I told you it's a long story." She said and shut the door in his face.

Hunter looked at the wood of the door, dumbfounded. He was completely and utterly confused. He thought it'd all been right. Hell, she'd kissed him back!

Hunter kicked the door, before turning away and walking off to his car. " Damnit!"

* * *

><p><em>AN: Aww, poor Hunter :(_

_Well, that's a **REVIEW** if you liked it, or have anything else to say. All comments are appreciated._

_Thanks for reading!_

_-Taylor(:_


	9. Fed Up

_ONE MONTH POST HUNTER'S FIRST DAY, THE NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON._

"It couldn't have been that bad." Lewis said to a blank faced Hunter. They were both sitting in the car in the garage, ready to head off to school. Hunter had been sitting in the car for ages, still kind of shot about the night before. When Lewis had found him, Hunter had been looking out the front window, just sitting there.

Hunter shook his head, " It was that bad." he groaned and then let his head fall back on the headrest, "It was more than that bad. It was terrible."

He could feel Lewis's eyes on him when he spoke, " I mean, besides the night not working out, what happened?" he said, " Details, Hunter."

" I went for it." Hunter said, closing his eyes and shaking his head. He was starting to rethink the whole thing. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything. If he hadn't, he wouldn't be feeling so incredibly shitty. He was actually kind of down. Well, really down.

" I told her how I felt…and then I kissed her." Hunter said, and was going to continue but Lewis piped up.

" Woah! You _kissed_ her?" Lewis repeated, and Hunter nodded. Best ten seconds of his life. Too bad it hadn't been longer. " But was it a kiss," Lewis then lowered his voice to make the full effect," or a _kiss?_" Lewis added.

" It was a_ kiss._" Hunter answered.

" Wow!" Lewis said, and then looked confused. " Well, if you got the chance to kiss her, why was the night so bad? Did she slobber on you er?"

Hunter didn't know how he managed it, but he laughed out loud. He wished that was the reason. His face returning to it's frown from before, he answered. " She kicked me out, Lewis." he said, answering his question. " She kicked me out, and shut the door in my face." he sighed.

That'd been a complete and utter nightmare. Hunter had never felt so many emotions at once. He was angry that she'd kicked him out, he was confused as to why she kicked him out, happy that they'd kissed and depressed that nothing had really come of it.

Later that night he'd tried to call her, apologize. He figured he didn't kiss her at the right time, or maybe he shouldn't have kissed her at all. But he couldn't help himself! That opportunity had arisen and he'd taken it. And you know what? He wouldn't have wanted it any other way. She might've kicked him out, but they both knew that that kiss was good.

Lewis quieted, " Oh…well that's…that's unfortunate." he said, and Hunter nodded once more. Unfortunate was an understatement.

" I mean out of all the things she could've done…" Hunter sighed. " Hell, I would've probably liked it better if she'd told me to leave her alone or never kiss her again or smack myself in the face, even!" he laughed bitterly. " But she hasn't said anything but 'It's a long story'! I don't even know what to do now. I don't even know where we stand.

" And I'll be damned if she just acts like it never happened." Hunter said.

Lewis rubbed the back of his neck. " I don't know what to say." he said, " I thought for sure she had a thing for you, mate."

" That makes two of us." Hunter said solemnly.

" Look, maybe she does like you. Maybe there's just something wrong with…" Lewis trailed off. It sounded like he was trying to come up with a name.

" Me?" Hunter said, looking at Lewis. " You think that might be it?"

" No, no. I don't think that's it." Lewis said, but Hunter wasn't convinced.

" No, maybe it is me…" Hunter said frowning. It of course made sense. Maybe she didn't want him. She kissed him back, but maybe that didn't mean anything. After all, the only time she ever came out with him was for a study date. If you really liked someone, you'd go out with them as much as you could.

Emma didn't do that. So it made him come to the conclusion that he just wasn't good enough.

" Hunter, it's not, really." Lewis said, " Just…just keep your head up, alright?"

" Yeah, whatever." Hunter replied quietly, before pulling out of garage and heading to the school. He didn't know what would happen that day, but he didn't think he really cared much anymore.

…

" Alright class. Hopefully you've gone on and read chapters 20-23 of East of Eden last night." Said Hunter's English teacher. " If you haven't, which telling by the looks on all of your faces, is true, you are allowed to work on this review sheet for the small test we'll be having towards the end of the period." she said, and then proceeded to give out sheets of paper with questions on them.

Not interested in working with anyone, and not really in the mood for it regardless, Hunter took the sheet of paper and began writing. He still couldn't focus on the words in front of him though.

Last night really shot his confidence. It was worse than rejected dates, and unsuccessfully dropped hints. It was worse than not being invited out, or even watching a movie at home. It was worse because just when he thought he had something with her, it was snatched back. That was the worst feeling you could possibly have.

And what the hell was he supposed to do now? Hunter and Emma had class together later in the day, and in both of those classes they sat right next to each other. Hunter didn't know if he could handle the awkward silence and the ridiculous tension that was basically guaranteed. They couldn't talk normally because of what'd happened last night. And if they did, Hunter would feel a bit offended that she could cast that moment aside without a second thought.

Lost in his thoughts, he wasn't listening when his teacher told the class they'd be working in partners. And he really hadn't been listening when the teacher had assigned him one.

" Hey, partner." Suddenly Miriam was sitting in the desk beside him. She'd moved the desk so that she was sitting no more than two inches way from him. He didn't know how he didn't smell her coming. It was like she'd showered in perfume that morning.

Hunter, confused, looked at her. " What do you want, Miriam." _I am really not in the mood for your shit today._

" You didn't hear Mrs. Wilkes?" Miriam asked, tilting her head to the side. " We're meant to be working in partners. On the review sheet."

Hunter frowned. Marvelous. He was already agitated, and he knew for sure Miriam would only make it worse. She was annoying even when she wasn't talking to him, and now they had to work together? " Then, to make this easier, you do the back page, and I'll do the front, and we'll copy answers, okay?" he said, and then looked back at his paper.

Making an unsatisfied noise, she did as instructed. But even as he was doing his part, he could feel her staring at him, and he didn't hear her pencil moving.

" Are you alright?" She asked him. He could probably see how she thought something was up. After all, he hadn't insulted her yet. But he did think it was nice of her to be concerned, so he didn't answer with a smart reply.

" Not really no." He said glancing at her. She didn't seem like she was trying to go at him, and as if she was concerned. That look proved to be temporary though, because it quickly returned to it's pinched, stuck up demeanor.

" Well, I bet I can cheer you up." Miriam said, putting her elbow on the desk and resting her head in her palm.

Hunter rolled his eyes. Unless she could get Emma in here and confess her feelings, nothing about his mood was going to change. He didn't reply, but he didn't need to because she didn't care what he had to say.

" We should go out tonight!"

Leave it to Miriam to suggest the exact thing he didn't want to go do. He wouldn't last an hour with the girl. She'd annoy the crap out of him, that was certain.

" I think I'll pass." Hunter said, looking back at his paper.

" Come on." Miriam said, " It'd be fun. Then maybe we could go back to my place and—"

Suddenly extremely irritated, he jerked his head up. " Miriam, I said no."

" Fine then." Miriam huffed and glared at him briefly before looking down at her paper. " But you're still going to the party tomorrow though, right?"

_If it means you'll shut the hell up. _" Sure. Whatever." He didn't really care. She nodded and continued to write, and Hunter went back to his own duties.

…

Since he hadn't bothered paying attention in any of his classes, and instead thought about his predicament once more. He decided he was going to apologize. Of course, he didn't think he was that wrong, but he didn't want to deal with the weirdness. He didn't like feeling awkward, and he really didn't want that to be what Emma and his relationship to be reduced to. If they couldn't be together, and she didn't feel the same way, he could deal with her friendship. It was better than nothing.

When lunch time came, Hunter walked down the hall to the cafeteria himself. As he drifted closer to the door, he began to get scared. He was mostly scared because he didn't know what to expect. Was she going to ignore him, or act normal? Should he ignore her, or act normal? Should he just not show up to lunch at all?

His worrying proved to be pointless though, because once he got out of the line and walked into the courtyard, she wasn't there. Cleo, Rikki and Lewis were, but she was missing.

" Of course." Hunter mumbled to himself as he approached his friends. They all said their hello's and he did the same. They ate and chatted about simple happenings, and Hunter found it odd that none of the girls mentioned anything that would have anything to do with the night before.

Hunter thought that all girls chatted about everything all the time, and that Emma probably told Rikki and Cleo about the night before. But, it didn't seem like she did.

So Emma didn't tell anyone, and didn't show up? That was weird.

" Where's Emma?" Hunter finally said when there was a brief moment of silence in between topics.

" At JuiceNet." Cleo answered, looking at him, " She said she had an early shift."

" Ah, I see…" Well, apologizing right now was definitely out of the question. But this was sort of a good thing. Now, he could come up with a more thoughtful way to apologize for last night.

Looking at his friends he stood, " I have to talk to Mr. Rodriguez before class starts." he said to them, " I'll talk to you guys later…maybe at Miriam's? If you all are going?"

They all looked at him oddly. " What, you're going?" Lewis asked.

" Well, yeah. She keeps bothering me about it, so I figured 'what the hell'." Hunter shrugged. And it was a party, other people would be there besides Miriam. Plus, it'd be easier to bear if he had his friends there with him.

Cleo shrugged and looked at Lewis and Rikki. Lewis looked undecided, but like he didn't really care, and Rikki was looking at Hunter as if he'd just grown a third eye.

Rikki laughed, " You're joking right?" she asked, and Hunter shook his head. " I don't even like seeing Miriam in school. What makes you think I'd want to see her on purpose?"

" You do like parties though, Rikki." Cleo chimed in, still looking indecisive. " It could be fun,"

" Was it 'fun' the last time we went to one of Miriam's parties?" Rikki asked as she raised her brows. Hunter was curious as to what went on.

Cleo sighed, " No…"

" What happened last time?" Hunter asked, and all three of his friends looked at him. They shut their mouths then, and left Hunter confused, " What?"

" Long story." Said Rikki, " Anyway, didn't you say you needed to talk to your teacher?" she added, slyly changing the subject, but not slyly enough. He could tell they were hiding something. They did it so much though that Hunter had grown used to it.

" Uh, yeah." Hunter nodded, " Erm, tell me if you guys do decide to come to the party though, yeah?" he asked and they nodded. He turned and walked off towards his Spanish class.

Of course, needing to talk to his teacher had been a lie. What he was really doing is setting up for his apology.

He walked off towards the building, out of sight, and got out his cell phone. Going through his contacts, and finding the person he wanted to talk to, he pressed the call button and put the phone to his ear.

It rang a few times before the reciever picked up, " George Wright…" said his father, and Hunter was actually surprised he answered.

" Hey, dad." Hunter said.

" Oh, hello Hunter." George said, sounding particularly surprised that he'd called. Truth was, Hunter never had a reason to. Even when he lived back in America. " To what do I owe the pleasure?"

" Well, I need a favor."

" And that is?"

" I wanted to borrow the boat for the night." Hunter told him. Before they'd moved to Australia, Hunter's parent's had bought a boat. Since the Wright's were moving so close to the coast, they figured it was sort of a necessity. They hadn't used it yet, but for Hunter's plan it would need to be used. " I'd return in before the night's over. I promise."

" Why do you need it?" George questioned.

" I wanted to take a friend of mine on the water." Hunter said, with a slight smile. It sounded good to him.

George laughed lightly, " Ah, a lady friend?"

" Yup, a lady friend."

" Well, how can I say no." George said, and Hunter could hear the smile in his voice. " The keys are in the bedroom, in the first drawer of my nightstand. Have fun, son."

" Thanks dad." Hunter said. He was actually kind of surprised his dad so easily handed the boat over. It was expensive and he was surprised his father trusted him with it. Maybe he was trying to get on Hunter's good side.

" No problem." George replied. " Have a good day."

" You too." Hunter said, " Bye." and he hung up the phone.

Step one was complete. Now, it was time for the second, and most important part of the plan: Inviting Emma Gilbert to go out on the water with him.

Oh boy.

_HOURS LATER…_

When Hunter arrived at JuiceNet it wasn't really busy, so it was good because he wouldn't be taking Emma away from her job by talking to her for a few minutes.

He walked through the beads that acted as the door to the establishment, and his eyes found Emma immediately. Her back was to him, and she was at the blender mixing a drink. Moving to put other things into the drink, he saw her face, and she looked particularly cheery which was a good thing for him. It meant that there was more of a chance she was in a good mood, and more of a chance she wouldn't reject his offer.

He scolded himself for that thought. He had to remember there was a good chance she would reject him. She'd done so last night, and every time he'd asked her out. This shouldn't have been any different. Actually, his chances should've been terrible seeing as there was a possibility she could be irritated or mad at him because of the day before. Of course he hoped that wasn't the case, but it was possible.

He walked up to the counter, and took a seat on one of the red stools. She didn't see him at first, and went to deliver two drinks to a table nearby. When she turned to walk back, his heart sped up. He was getting nervous again, but way more than before. He could feel his heart through his entire body. It was beating out of his chest, through his fingers and his face was getting hot.

_SUCK IT UP BRO!_ He thought, but before he could really listen to his own instructions, she was already back behind the counter. She hadn't noticed him yet.

She must've seen his shape though, because she took a pad out of her back pocket and stood in front of him, without looking up. " Welcome to JuiceNet, how can I help you…" she drifted off as she looked at him. And he attempted to smile.

" I'd like a strawberry smoothie, and five minutes of your time." Hunter said, as he looked at her. He couldn't really tell what she was thinking. She had one of those expressions again. The kind that, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't decipher.

"What do you want, Hunter?" She didn't sound mad, but she didn't sound particularly pleased either, and he didn't know how to take it. But, he just went on.

" Look, Emma I'm really sorry about last night." Hunter said. He actually looked kind of pitiful. Emma glanced away briefly and nodded.

" I accept your apology." Emma said, but she didn't say it like she was expecting him to apologize. Maybe she thought he didn't need to? If so, that was a good sign, so he continued on.

" Awesome." He smiled. That part was over, and he was a bit more relieved. " So, erm…my parents bought this boat a few weeks ago, for our move. And uh," he coughed, his nerves were getting to him again. " I was wondering if tonight maybe we could go out on the water…?" he asked.

Emma looked at him then, a look that was all too familiar, and he'd seen it way to many times. He knew what was coming, so he hurried and spoke.

" I know you don't like the water and I know I messed up last night. But let me make it up to you. It'll just be us two, hanging out, no strings attached." he finished and looked at her. She seemed to be actually thinking about it, and hope began to flicker inside of him. Maybe this would be it. It looked like she would need further convincing though, so he didn't stop there, " And it's a full moon. It'll look really nice on the water…"

Her expression went back to before, but with an added emotion, stress. " Hunter…"

" Emma, please just consider it." Hunter said, his blue eyes pleading. One night together. That's all he was asking for. " I won't try anything, I promise." he added, trying to make the night seem more appealing, if that's what she wanted.

It didn't work though, and she shook her head. " No, I can't Hunter." she replied, and turned back around, walking to the blender behind her.

That was it. Hunter didn't know what happened, but something broke in him. Suddenly, something boiled inside him and burst.

He jumped up from the table, and slammed his fist on the table in front of him. " Damnit, Emma!" he said loudly, no doubt attracting the attention of some of the customers. Emma spun around and looked at him, shocked by his behavior.

" What the hell is _so_ terrible about me, that you just can't stand the idea of spending any time with me!.? " He shouted, throwing up his hands, " I just don't get it! I don't know what the hell I'm doing wrong. I haven't done anything to you, and still I just keep on getting turned down! I mean, what is the problem here!.? Am I really that repulsive?" he yelled and looked to her, but he didn't give her time to reply. He could feel his face heat up, and knew he was getting way too heated about this, but he couldn't control himself.

He didn't even look into Emma to see if she was at all affected by what he was saying, because at that moment in time, he didn't rightly care.

" So, I'll just solve this problem for both of us." Hunter continued. " I'll just find someone who actually _wants_ to be with me." he said loudly, and looked back at her. " And I'll leave you alone, since that's obviously what you seem to want." he said forcefully, but couldn't help his voice cracking. He sighed, and turned as he heard the beads of the door rattle once again.

It was Miriam, walking in with one of her friends. " Ah, there we go." he said, walking towards her.

" Hey Hunter." Miriam said smirking at him.

" Hey, Miriam." Hunter said, loud enough for Emma to hear. Putting on a false grin, he pretended to be happy to see her. " Do you want to go out sometime?"

Miriam looked confused, " But earlier you said-"

" I didn't mean it." Hunter cut her off. He knew what he said, but if he was going to do this, Emma didn't need to know that he'd already rejected Miriam. " So, do you want to go out with me tonight?"

Miriam's face lit up, and she looked at her two friends, who nodded quickly, telling her to go for it. " Definitely!"

" Awesome." Hunter said, glancing back at Emma, just to make sure she was still listening. " Meet me at the docks at 6."

Miriam nodded, " See you then." she smirked, before looking to her girls again and trotting out of the door.

Hunter at this point didn't want to look back at Emma. He knew he'd been spiteful, but he'd acted on impulse. The idea of a date with Miriam was absolutely repulsive and so was Miriam. But part of him wanted her to feel the pain he'd had to endure.

So, he didn't look back at her, and began to walk to the door. Her voice stopped him though.

" Hunter, " She called out, " I…I want to go but—"

" But what, Emma?" Hunter asked, finally turning back to her. He realized he shouldn't have because her hurt expression made him feel like shit. He wasn't going to apologize though. His pride was getting the best of him.

Emma was perplexed. She could see she was thinking hard. It was a long pause, and Hunter kept waiting. Waiting for her to apologize, waiting for her to confess or _something_. But she closed her mouth, she was stuck, and she couldn't figure out an excuse. " It's a long story."

Hunter chuckled bitterly and shook his head," With all the 'long stories' you have, " Hunter began, making air quotes, " you could put together a goddamn novel." he said, and turned away.

" I'm sorry, Hunter." She finally said, and she sounded sincere. But at the moment, Hunter couldn't think of a good reason to forgive her.

He sighed, and sounded tired when he said," Yeah…Whatever." and walked out.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Well, that's it. Do you think Hunter was out of line? Or would you have done the same thing?_

_If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a** REVIEW**. All comments are greatly appreciated._

_The next chapter will be out soon! And it's really going to get serious. :D_

_Thanks for reading!_

_-Taylor(:_


	10. Ocean Frenzy

Sitting quietly alone at the docks, was one Hunter Wright. Small waves brushed the side of the Wright's boat, the only sound heard around. It was six o'clock in the afternoon, and the sun was begging to say it's goodbyes. The sky was a lavender shad of purple, that faded into orange just before the horizon.

He sat in the back of the boat. It was a decently large boat, having a bedroom below deck, and a sitting area on deck: two couches with brown cushions, that were connected to the boat, and a table, also one with the boat.

Hunter sighed and leaned his arms on his thighs. Grouping his hands together, he leaned forward and rested his head on his conjoined hands. He continued to wait for Miriam as patiently as possible. He was inclined not to come at all, but it would be cruel of him, and he'd went over his cruelty limit for the day, that was for sure.

Thinking about earlier that day, he sighed again. He'd acted foolishly at the JuiceNet. He'd yelled at Emma in front of tons of people, solely because he was angry she kept turning him down. Don't get him wrong, he had a good reason to be mad, but he should've gotten control over his emotions. Honestly, the only reason he'd gotten so heated was because he cared too much. All he wanted was time with Emma, but it turned out time with her was too hard to get…and maybe Emma didn't want to give it.

The guilt about earlier still was bothering him. He should call her, apologize for his behavior. It was the right thing to do, wasn't it? Plus, he had just checked the clock, and now Miriam was going on fifteen minutes late. She wasn't planning to be on time, so he probably had a little while to say a bit.

He grabbed his phone out of his swim shorts, and dialed her number. He put the device to his ear, and tapped his foot nervously as he listened to it ring. He didn't know if she'd answer, he was mad, but he was prepared to grovel.

" Hi, you've reached Emma's mobile." Emma's answering machine began, and with a groan, he cancelled the call. Shoving the phone back into his shorts he sighed. He should've known it wouldn't be that easy.

Hunter heard footsteps against wood not too far away and looked towards the dock. Finally, Miriam had decided to arrive. She wore a short pair of jeans shorts. And by short, he meant miniscule, practically non-existent. Hell, he could almost see her butt cheeks. She also wore a pink tank top, cut low, revealing her cleavage. Her blonde hair was in a high ponytail, and she wore a pair of glasses atop her head.

" A little underdressed aren't you?" Hunter said, but more to himself as she was too far away to hear.

She continued to walk, and upon arriving to his boat, she hopped onto the back of the boat. She walked up to him, and sat beside him.

" Hey." Miriam smiled, cocking her head to the side slightly.

Hunter turned his head away, " Answer me this, Miriam."

" Yeah?"

" Do you own a watch?"

" Yes..."

" Have you ever looked at it before?" Hunter said, glancing over at her, making it obvious he was irritated by her tardiness. It was ridiculous. If you were invited somewhere, wouldn't you make it a point to be on time?

Miriam laughed, not sensing his irritation, " Ah, I see what you're getting at." she said, her hazel eyes dancing. " You're mad because I'm late."

" Ding ding ding, we have a winner." Hunter said, faking enthusiasm. She perceived it as a joke though, and grinned.

" Oh, you're so funny." Miriam said, " Anyway, shouldn't we get this show on the road?" she said, leaning closer to him. But he couldn't help but notice that her close proximity didn't have the same…fire like with Emma. It made him miss her even more.

Shaking those thoughts out, he stood up. This wasn't the time to be dwelling on Emma. She didn't want him. So he should stop wanting her, get over it, and at least try to get through the night.

He walked up a two or three steps to get to a higher platform. Through two brown double doors was a room in which there were all the controls to the boat. The keys were already in the ignition, and so all he had to do was turn the key, and that's what he did. With a quiet rumble, the boat started. Pressing on the gas, he began to drive out farther into the ocean.

…

_My life sucks._ Hunter said, as Miriam continued to speak to him. Actually, she hadn't stopped speaking to him since they'd left. She just kept going on and on and on about how great her life was, how much her shoes had cost her, how often she went shopping, what hair products she used. It was driving him crazy, he almost felt like jumping over board. He was more interested in the full moon, which was just begin to rise, it's light bright illuminating everything on the boat.

It actually looked quite beautiful. Yeah, you could see the moon from everywhere in the world. But without any light pollution, the moon and stars seem to shine so much brighter.

" Am I boring you?" He suddenly heard. Looking over at Miriam who was too close for comfort, he raised an eyebrow. Had she ever heard of a thing called personal space? Christ.

" No, of course not." Hunter lied, there was no reason to be rude…well outright rude, like he wanted to be at the moment.

" Then what did I just say?" MIriam asked quizzically. She raised one overly manicured eyebrow at him, waiting for his answer. She knew he hadn't been listening, he'd been caught.

" I erm, I don't know." Hunter admitted. He truly hadn't been listening. But he wasn't interested in anything about this girl. She actually was too interested in him for his liking.

" You're thinking about her aren't you?" Miriam asked, turning her body towards him. She actually looked interested, which Hunter found odd, but then again she didn't seem like she'd be too pleased if he answered the question honestly. Truthfully though, she'd been the only thing running through his head since their last conversation, but he didn't know anyone could tell that much.

" Her?" Hunter said, pulling out the oblivious card.

" Don't play dumb." Miriam said, growing impatient, " Emma. You're thinking about Emma. I know that's the only reason you invited me; to make her jealous."

Hunter opened his mouth to reply, but quickly shut it. There was no point in saying anything, she knew. She wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but she wasn't a complete idiot.

Miriam scooted closer to him and put her manicured hand on his knee, " I know how that is. It happens with Zane and I all the time." she said, and he believed her. He'd heard things from the crew. They always said Zane ignored her, sometimes didn't even claim her even though they were supposed to be 'together'. " But you know what I do, to get it off my mind?" she said, her face slowly coming closer to his.

He knew where she was getting at, but replied anyway. " What?" he asked quietly.

" I focus on someone else." Miriam said, her lips nearing his, her eyes darting between his eyes and his lips. He knew what was coming…he wasn't sure if he wanted it. But she was right, maybe focusing on someone else would help it.

Thing was, he didn't think he'd rightly enjoy it. The anticipation felt different. His heart wasn't racing, he wasn't tempted to jump in, hell he wasn't even leaning forward, there was no spark. But maybe it didn't come like that. Maybe he'd have to grow to like her…

Before he could finish contemplating, and really decide whether it was a good choice, her lips were ontop of his. He felt…nothing. Nothing at all. He could've been kissing a wall and it would've felt exactly like Miriam's kiss. Oddly enough, he only felt guilt, like he was doing something wrong. But he didn't move away from her, he wanted to see if he would soon find it less repulsive.

Seeing that he wasn't moving (unless breathing counted, of course), she got even closer. Not detaching her lips from his, she moved her hand, placing it as the base of his neck, pulling him closer. But it didn't make anything happen, didn't make him want to get into any more than before.

Suddenly he felt a bit of wetness on his head. Perfect, it was an excuse to stop kissing her. Pulling quickly away, he jumped up from his seat. He looked up at the sky, and he saw that large clouds had begun to form, and they were moving fast, covering the sky like a blanket.

" Looks like a storm is coming." Miriam commented from behind him, and he nodded. " Maybe we should head back."

" Are you kidding, this is the most exciting thing that's happened all night." He said, almost a little too loud. He hadn't meant for her to hear it, but he knew she did after hearing her sigh. He could practically see her frown.

" You didn't like it?" She asked him, and not looking back at her, he shook his head.

" I guess we have different ways of moving on, Miriam." Hunter said honestly, and figured that that was his problem. She wasn't a very appealing person, and he hadn't gotten to know her like he'd gotten to know Emma. She didn't have the same amazing looks and personality that Emma had. She was a snobby, conceited bitch with a priority complex.

He then realized that he didn't want Miriam or anyone else, he wanted Emma. Going on a date with Miriam to make her jealous, and to attempt to forget about her had been a really bad idea.

Hearing a clap of thunder, both Hunter and Miriam jumped slightly before water began pouring down on them and the wind began to whip around them. Waves began to crash against the sides of the boat, they were no longer small and practically non existent like when they'd first sailed out.

Miriam said something to him, but he couldn't hear her over the waves, thunder and beating rain. It was like someone had suddenly turned up the volume on his iPod without him knowing.

" What?" He shouted back, he needed her to repeat herself.

" We need to go back to shore!" Miriam said, and Hunter barely caught it. Hunter shook his head, he wasn't in any hurry. He didn't think the storm would get too bad, and if it did, at least it would be exciting, he needed some of that.

" No, we don't! It'll probably die down anyway!" Hunter shouted back, and she stood up. Her skin tight clothes were even tighter now that the water had gotten to them. Hunter's white t-shirt and the blue button up he wore over it were also soaked, along with everything else on his person.

" I seriously doubt that!" Miriam replied, looking exasperated. She looked around, and her eyes focusing on something, her eyes widened. " And we're by Mako Island, that's even worse!"

" Why is it worse?" Hunter asked.

"Sharks!" Miriam said huffing, as if he should've known. Seeing Hunter just shrug in response, she threw up her hands. " Well I'm leaving!"

" And how the hell are you going to do that?" Hunter laughed. He had the keys and was the only one on the vehicle that knew how to control this thing.

" It's your boat and you don't know?" Miriam asked, walking to the edge. She threw her leg over the wall, and let go disappearing from his sight. Did she just jump into the water!.?

Scared, Hunter ran over, and put his hands on the edge before looking down. And there Miriam was, sitting in a small raft accompanied with a pull motor. Well…he sure hadn't noticed that. " Oh."

Miriam rolled her eyes, " Are you coming or not?" she asked.

Hunter shook his head yet again, " I have to get the boat back. I can't leave it out here." he said, and that was true. It would be smarter to get imto the raft because the waves were getting way out of hand and he felt that soon he wasn't going to be able to have control of the boat anymore. But he couldn't leave his Dad's boat; he'd be pissed.

" Whatever." Miriam said. She turned and pulled the thick string, and after two pulls the motor rumbled to life. Reaching behind her and grabbing hold of the wheel she started off. " Don't forget about the party!" he heard her say before she disappeared into the rain and he couldn't help but roll his eyes.

So, now he was left alone, soaked to the core, in the middle of a large body of water, in a boat that couldn't be steered.

" Oh shit." Hunter cursed.

He ran back up the small set of stairs to the control room. He rushed to the wheel, and turned it quickly to the right. But as he did, it seemed to jam on him, it didn't move any farther. So, he attempted to move it to the other side, and again it jammed.

" What's going on?" He said loudly to himself.

Maybe he was doing something wrong. He wouldn't be surprised if he did, it was hard to focus with all the noise, all the movement. Every two seconds, a large wave would crash on either side of the boat, coating the front windows in water. The waves were getting so violent In fact that every time one hit, the boat would tip to one side.

He now had no control, and where he would land depended entirely on where the waves decided to take him.

Reassuring him that they had dominance, a wave crashed on his right side, sending him falling to his left. He rolled on the wooden floor quickly before he crashed into the left wall. He knocked his head pretty hard, giving him an instant headache.

A loud boom was heard from behind him, and Hunter looked over to realize the double doors had shut on him, and remembering they had an automatic lock brought down his mood even more. He couldn't even jump to the water an attempt to swim away. He had to stay in the control room till the storm stopped or until he crashed.

It turned out to be the latter.

Water crashed against his boat once more, and he could feel it starting to spin. Before he knew it, the boat began to tip on it's side, causing the glass of the front window to shatter. Hunter covered his face as it neared him and as he fell about two feet to the opposite wall of the boat.

The craft had crashed onto land, probably the island Miriam had been talking to him about before.

He wiped the water from his eyes, only to have to close them again after more liquid began to drip down. He wiped it again, and was able to open his eyes, but as he put his arms down, a color caught his eye. He looked down at his hands that now had a dark red liquid coating them.

His blood.

Then he began to feel the sting at the corner of his forehead. Temporarily ignoring the hurt, he crawled forward towards the windows, his only way out. Staying in the overturned room wouldn't help. And now there was too much glass, he was bound to get cut again. Of course, he'd probably get cut crawling out, but it'd be better than being cut several times more than necessary. It was better to get out of the ship, onto land and hide somewhere safe.

He lifted himself up and began to crawl on his forearms towards the broken front windows. Shards of glass decorated the edges of the window, the only pieces of glass still present. There were two windows and so he picked the right one because there was a bigger hole for him to travel through. He was a big guy and wouldn't make it through the other.

Taking a deep breath, and ready to face whatever injuries he could attain within the next fifteen seconds, he crawled through, trying to avoid as much glass as possible. He gasped quietly as he felt a pinch in his right arm when he was a third of the way through.

His first instinct was to move and avoid the glass that would no doubt just dig deeper into his arm, but when he looked over he saw that there was only a bigger and sharper piece of glass. He'd rather just have to get ten stitches to patch it up than the thirty (or more) that were guaranteed if he moved to the other side.

His lips forming a straight line, he braced himself. He moved forward and could help but shout in pain as the cut got longer and deeper. It didn't feel like a simple shard of glass. It felt like a kitchen knife was being shoved into his upper arm.

Soon there was only an inch more to go, he pulled his arm free and shouted yet again. He rolled over and sprawled out on the sand relieved that that part was over.

He blinked water and blood out of his eyes, as he moved his arm in front of him to check the damage. It hurt like a bitch, but he already knew that would happen. He wanted to see just how bad it was.

He instantly grimaced as the examined the wound. He didn't want to test it, but it looked so deep that he could pull apart the skin and look inside of his arm. That was going to be a struggle to get around with, and when and if he got to the hospital, the patch up would be long and ridiculous.

He knew then that he couldn't leave it uncovered. With his good arm he ripped off the short sleeve of his blue button up. Using his teeth and hands, he wrapped the cloth around the gash. It wouldn't last for long, but it was something like a bandage. But he needed medical attention, and soon. He could've been exaggerating, but he felt a little dizzy already. He had to call someone. If he called 911, they could send a boat out to get him off the island and back to shore.

He reached to his pocket to get his phone, and struggled to see the numbers on the screen. He couldn't see a thing. So he put the phone closer to his face and when he did, he noticed something he would've rather not have. The damn phone was broken. It was too wet, and it must've messed up the battery.

Time for plan B: get to shelter.

Hunter struggled, but after a minute of trying finally got to his feet. He turned around and look on the island where he landed. He could only see a bit of the forest and some rocks, but he knew it was huge. There was a lot of rocks, and they sloped together to form something which Hunter couldn't see the top of. He could only assume it was the spout of a volcano. Which he hoped was dormant. But honestly a active one would be the icing on top of his shit cake.

Regardless, he figured the best bet would be somewhere in the forest. Trees were always good. He realized though, after looking for a while, there really wasn't anywhere that had a substantial amount of cover. Not enough for him to be able to sit until morning.

And so he kept moving. It must've been at least ten minutes and he was beginning to shiver. The weather and bloodloss was really starting to bother him, causing him to walk funny and stumble. Soon he came across a river. It flowed more rapid than usual because of the storm, and was almost as loud as the waves back on the ocean.

On either side of the river were two big slabs of rock, a considerable gap between the two. To get to the other part of the island he needed to jump, but he was hesitant to do so. The rocks were slippery when wet and there was a good chance he'd fall, hard. But it wouldn't help his situation if he just stood there, he might as well have just stayed on the beach then. He decided to take the plunge. It couldn't hurt his situation more than it already was.

He took a few steps back, figuring he'd run and jump. Putting one foot in front of the other, he launched him self forward, and landed loudly on the other side, though it couldn't be heard through the rain. His foot landed on the dark grey rock, both feet did, but he lost his footing, tripped over, and then all of a sudden he could feel himself falling. He wasn't sure where or how or what, but he knew he was sliding downwards on a slope.

Within seconds he crashed, his back thumping on hard sand. He opened his eyes slowly, and was in a cave. Inside the cave there was an odd blue-ish glow all around, an even brighter one on the opposite wall. Getting to his knees he crawled towards the light, intrigued and confused as to where on earth he was. But there was no rain, at least, and now the only thing he had to worry about dripping in his eyes was the blood and the occasional drip of water from his hair.

Makeshift steps formed as he neared the entrance, and so Hunter crawled up them. They twisted slightly, and as he got to the last one, he was in a large space. The cave expanded into a large circular space. He looked up and came to the conclusion that this was the volcano structure he'd seen. It was definitely dormant, for the only thing in sight was a eerily blue pool. The ground was covered in sand, and near the edges of the pool were rocks, the same as the volcano was made of.

Water began to flow from the opening of the volcano, pouring into the pool below, making it seemed like a waterfall was coming into it.

The pool was pretty though. The water was so clear, it looked refreshing, and Hunter was tempted to go in. He crawled near it, and hopped in, sitting on the small rock perched inside and near the edge. He relaxed and just as he got comfortable, something weird happened.

The rain stopped and a bright light shined on the pool while the water began to bubble. It looked more like a Jacuzzi now, making Hunter enjoy the warm feeling that began to spread from his toes up. It even helped him, made him less dizzy, less tense.

Hunter feeling just a bit better, let his head lull back. The moon was right above his head, shining brightly down. As he studied it, he could see something in the corner of his eyes. Little bubbles of water rose around him, actually floating to the top of the volcano.

" What the hell is this?" Hunter said, his voice echoing against the volcano's walls. Unfortunately as he sat up to look into it, everything stopped. The drops of water dispeared, the pool stopped bubbling and the moon passed over, covering Hunter in darkness.

He relaxed in the water for a while after that, waiting for the rain to return but it didn't. So, the best idea was to go back to shore where he could be easily seen…if anyone decided to come out there.

He made his way to the other side of the pool. Looking down he noticed that there was a hole where water was escaping. A way out most likely. Hunter for some reason, didn't think that staying into the volcano would be safer. Something about it tripped him out.

Praying quickly that swimming down the hole wouldn't lead to a dead end, he held his breath, and ducked his head under the water. He put his arms ahead of him, opened his eyes, and made his way through. Just when his lungs began to run out of air, rocks were no longer above him. Just water, meaning he could finally come up for air.

He kicked his feet rapidly until he could push his head above the surface. He took a large breath in, taking all the oxygen his lungs could handle.

_Thank god_. Hunter thought as he looked around. There were still many clouds, but it seemed the storm had stopped. Good thing too, if the storm had still been going and the waves were still being rash, there was no doubt in his mind he would've hurt himself on large jagged rocks all around the exit of the dormant volcano.

Hunter let his head lull back, he just need to recouperate a bit before trying to swim to shore. That was a close call. He was still bleeding, but he wasn't to hurt. He would go to shore, be saved, go back to the coast and to his warm bed.

There was a boom of thunder, and Hunter quickly closed his eyes as the rain began to pour again, pounding on his face. The once calm waves began to pick up speed and size, and all he could do was try to turn around and get to shore…wherever it may be.

But trying to swim was the worst thing he could've possibly done.

He didn't notice it till too late, and probably couldn't have done anything to help it, but a wave way higher than he, sped toward him. His mouth open wide, he shook his head, and told it to stop as if it would make a difference.

" Oh shit." He said as the water neared him. The entire wave crashed down on his face, and he was pushed under, he flipped and flipped before colliding with a wall of rock. He could feel the brand new cut right below his pecks, but tried to focus on resurfacing.

Shutting his eyes tight, he kicked his feet again, coming back to the top. He was pushed left and right again and again. He tried and failed to go against the current. He was beginning to be scared out of his mind, he actually felt like he was in extreme danger. It felt like ages before he could get his head above water.

He screamed as he got back up and coughed up the bit of water that'd slipped in during his ascent to the surface " Help!" he yelled, hoping someone would heard him, but having the gut feeling they wouldn't. " Help! Please!"

He turned in a circle, looking for the shore once again, and found the opposite of what he'd wanted. Another wave.

" Oh no." Hunter said, fear painted all over his face. There was no stopping this one, he knew that was going to cause some extreme chaos. It was two times higher than the other and coming in ten times faster. " Oh no." he repeated as it got closer. Only when it was right in front of his face did he really lose his shit, that he really thought he wasn't going to make it.

It slammed into him, propelling him backwards, and knocking his head into the volcanic rock wall. All he could remember was the water flowing into his lungs before the world went black.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Dunnn, dunnnnn, dunnnnnnnnn.  
><em>_That's it. Next chapter should be up soon. Thanks for reading!_

_-Taylor(:_


	11. The Search

_A/N: Sorry for the ridiculously long wait. I mean , sheesh, when was the last time I updated?_

_Anyway, sorry again, and here ya go!_

* * *

><p>THE NEXT DAY…<p>

EMMA'S POV.

Emma woke up with a large headache. She sat up slowly, not wanting to make it worse, and found her two friends, Cleo and Rikki beside her in their sleeping bags. They were already up, looking at her with wary eyes.

" Ah, so she's awake." Rikki said.

" Are you okay…?" Cleo asked, always being the concerned one. But Emma had no idea why she would be so concerned.

" Besides a headache, I'm perfectly fine." Emma said slowly, " Why do you ask?"

" What, you don't remember?" Rikki asked her, sitting up and closer. Emma shook her head. Rikki nodded knowingly, while Emma groaned.

" The moon hit me, didn't it?" Emma sighed. She hoped nothing terrible happened. Of course, Cleo and Rikki did look a little distressed. " What happened?"

Cleo waved her hand, " Don't worry. It wasn't too bad. You didn't wander or anything." she reassured her. But Emma didn't feel too reassured when she took a long pause for she looked uneasy. " You _almost_ went down to Hunter's boat, but we got you back before you could…"

" And you spent all night ranting about Hunter and Byron." Rikki said with a roll of her eyes, " It was actually ridiculous how much you had to say."

Emma blushed heavily. She of course didn't mean to get moonstruck, but she really didn't mean to make Rikki and Cleo listen to her confessional. " I'm sorry." she sighed.

Cleo shook her head, " No need to apologize. At least you got it out." she reminded her and Emma shrugged. Cleo had a point.

Then she wondered what she must've told them. If she told them everything, well, she sure had a lot to say.

She must've told them about her dilemma with Byron. How she'd been waiting for him but every time she'd think he'd make a move, he wouldn't, keeping the entire relationship stay in the friend zone. H'ed driven her crazy, hot and then cold.

And even though she was tired of it, she just kept trying.

And then Hunter came in, being exactly what Byron wasn't to her. He'd actually acted like he cared, but she wanted to pass it off, just in case Byron would come around. And now she'd gone on and hurt the guy who treated her better.

She knew now that it was stupid of her. The day before at JuiceNet when Hunter had gone off and yelled at her, in front of customers, and then asked Miriam out on a date really hurt her, but she knew that she'd probably made Hunter feel worse. It'd been nagging at her the entire night, which was why she'd gone on and told Rikki and Cleo her feelings in her moonstruck state.

" You know, maybe I should talk to him." Emma said, thinking aloud. She couldn't help but recall Hunter telling her he was going to leave her alone, but she wanted to change his mind. " Talk to him about yesterday."

Rikki rolled her eyes, but Cleo nodded in agreement, " That's a good idea." she reached up to get Emma's phone off of the desk behind her, and when she got it, reached over to hand it to her.

Emma took it, opened the phone, and went into her contacts. Once she found his name, she clicked the call button and put the phone to her ear. Immediately, it went to voicemail. She looked at her two friends and frowned lightly as Hunter's recording played in her ear, " Hey, you've reached Hunter's cell. Leave a message, that's what your here for right?" then it beeped.

" Hunter, I erm, need to talk to you. Call me back." Emma said, frowning lightly. She removed the phone, and pressed the end call button. She looked to her friends. " Maybe I should try again?"

" Well, if he's not answering, especially on the first ring, maybe he's doing it on purpose?" Rikki suggested. Emma knew it was probably a possibility, but she didn't want to think it was that.

Emma shook her head, " No, I'll just ring him again." she said, and went onto repeat the same process, but he still didn't answer. She sighed again, maybe he'd been serious about what he'd said.

" Look," Cleo began, sensing her friends disappointment, " Maybe he just doesn't have his mobile on him, or he's busy?" she suggested, and Emma nodded.

" Yeah maybe..." Emma thought of where he could possibly be, and it only took a few seconds to come to a conclusion. It was an occasion that everyone who was someone was planning on going to that Saturday. Looking between both of her friends, she smiled. " Girls, we're going to a party."

Hours later, after finding proper outfits, the trio went off to Miriam's house. Though they didn't seem to thrilled, Rikki especially, Emma's two best friends went along with it because...well, that's what best friends do.

They heard the music before they even arrived at the large house. They walked up the walkway, Emma in front, her friends flanking her.

" I can't believe I'm at this dump again." Rikki groaned from behind her.

" Oh, suck it up." Emma said, rolling her blue eyes. She took her hand, and brought it to the doorknob, but the door opened before she even twisted it.

Miriam swung it open, grinned planted on her face. She opened her mouth and said," Hey-" she stopped realizing who it was, and her grin quickly dissappeared, morphing into an unsatisfied frown. " What're you doing here?"

" This is a party, is it not?" Emma asked, gesturing to the area around them. The teenagers lingering outside, the music so loud she could barely hear the annoying girl in front of her. " I'm here to enjoy it."

" Excuse us." Cleo smiled sarcastically, before brushing past the girl, Emma and Rikki following. Miriam didn't feel like objecting. She huffed, and walked away to another part of the house.

They stood next to each other in a triangluar shape, all of their eyes looking over the large crowd before them. " So where do we start?" Rikki asked

Emma shrugged, " Let's just split up. Everyone take one section of the house." she said, and they all nodded, splitting up.

Emma searched the left section of the large establishment. Looking over every face carefully, hoping to spot the pair of aqua blue eyes she was searching for. But, alas, she kept getting let down. All she saw was annoying partiers, drunk and crazy, dancing like they didn't have a care in the world.

She was quickly getting irritated that she couldn't find that familiar face, but she did see another. He wore khaki shorts, and a white polo, leaning against the wall with a few of his friends. He was standing there, chill, his face calm like it always was. And even though he was not the boy she'd been looking for, her heart picked up pace still. Noticing her standing there, he raised his hand, waving her over.

" Hey Emma!" Byron shouted, and she could just barely hear his voice over the music. Taking a breath of preperation, Emma walked over to him, brushing past the people standing in her way. When she stood in front of him, he said. " Didn't expect to see you here." he smiled brightly, a smile that made her jump, and at this moment feel guilty.

She wasn't confused as to where the guilt came from, she knew exactly why. It was because of this boy in front of her, that that disaster had happened at JuiceNet the day before. It wasn't necessarily his fault, he hadn't done it on purpose. But he still was the main cause of Hunter's hurt feelings. The feelings she wished she could take away from him.

" Where do we stand?" Emma asked, wanting to get straight to the point. She no longer wanted to move around it. She had to know how he felt, had to know if she had to move on. Because, truthfully, Hunter was there for her. She sounded incredibly bitchy for that one, but it wasn't like that, truly. Truly, she just had to stop hanging onto him, if she didn't want her, and be with someone who felt for her.

" What do you mean?" Byron said, looking confused, which irritated Emma. It wasn't rocket science, he could easily figure out what she was talking about.

" Byron, do you like me or not?" Emma asked, and waiting for an answer, she assumed that this is exactly what Hunter had felt.

" Emma..." Byron trailed, and Emma felt her fuse getting shorter. She didn't like him bouncing around the point.

" Just tell me. I'm tired of messing around." Emma said, now desperate for an answer. Him trailing off, it couldn't mean anything good. " Just be honest and tell me..." _If I wasted my time. If I wasted Hunter's time._

Byron sighed heavily, and looked down at the floor before looking at her. " I think you're fun to flirt with." he shrugged. His voice made it sound like he was sorry, but he sure didn't look sorry. " But your a good friend."

Emma nodded slowly. " A good friend." she repeated. " Wow." she added, her fists clenched. All that time she spent, waiting for that boy, and he just lead her on. He never felt anything for her. He thought they were better as friends. She wanted to curse at him, scream at him, embarass him in front of all of his buddies, but instead, she turned on her heel, and stormed away.

" I'm sorry!" She heard Byron shout from behind her, " I just thought we were on the same page!"

She didn't move to respond, figuring he didn't deserve one. Byron was a good guy, but not this time. This time, he was just an asshole. Thinking this, anger flared up inside her. God! She wanted to just punch something! Punch him!

She stormed outside, and found her friends just outside, waiting for her. " Did you all find him?" she asked, hoping that they at least had good news, something to take her mind off the curly haired heartbreaker.

" No luck." Cleo shrugged, and Emma sighed. This was awesome. How could she apologize if she didn't even know where he was?

" Maybe you should ring him again." Rikki suggested, her attitude on hold, seeing Emma's angry, and hurt, demeanor.

Emma sighed, " Yeah." she said, and took her phone out of her back pocket. Dialing, and putting the phone to her ear, she waited, and got the voicemail immediately, yet again. " Damnit!" she said, she was beyond frustrated now.

Him not answering, for this long, it didn't make any sense. It couldn't just be because he was mad at her could it? Maybe something was wrong. If that was so, only one person would know: The last person who saw him.

Miriam.

Her eyes scanned the outdoor patio for the girl, and she found her just a few feet away. She was already heading over to them, and so they stayed put. Stopping in front of them and crossing her arms, she huffed. " Where's Hunter?"

" We were about to ask you the same thing." Rikki replied, her tone dripping with the same bitter attitude they'd just recieved from the girl.

" Well don't ask me." She said, putting a finger to her chest. " I haven't seen him since last night."

Nervous, Emma's heart sped up a little. This wasn't good. " Well, what happened?"

Miriam grinned. " Well, it was a wonderful night to begin with..

" Hunter had decorated the entire boat just for our date. He had roses and candles, and beautiful music.." she trailed off dreamily, and Emma frowned. She knew Miriam was a compulsive liar, but that didn't sound to out there for Hunter.

" Cut the crap, Miriam." Snapped Rikki. " What really happened?"

Miriam glared at her before continuing, " I was being serious." she snapped back and sighed before moving on, " Anyway, everything was alright. The storm started, and we even snogged in the rain..but then the storm got worse. I wanted to get off the boat, but for some reason he didn't. He said something about, not wanting to leave his Dad's boat in the water.

" It was scary." She said dramatically, " Haven't heard from him since."

Once again, anger found it's way back to her. Her blonde brows narrowed, " And you thought it was okay to leave him there?" she asked, shocked. How ridiculous could you be? She didn't know Miriam could get any more ignorant.

Miriam just shrugged in response, " I guess so." she said, like Hunter being in danger wasn't that big of a deal. She began to get hot, nervousness overtaking her," But he probably didn't show up because he's mad I left the boat."

" Or, you know, he could be hurt!" Emma snapped. Beyond irritated. Thoughts of him dead, or at the bottom of the ocean, flew through her mind.

Cleo sounded equally as irriated and stressed as she spoke, " Where did you all sail near?"

" Mako Island." Miriam said, and then opened her mouth, as if a thought just came to her. " That's another reason I bailed! There're sharks out there! Y'know, Hunter's hot and all, but that wasn't as great of a date after all." she said, the last part more to herself than to them, before walking away to rejoin her party guests.

Hunter could be hurt, dying or dead. And not only did she have no idea, but Miriam, the one who was so incredibly desperate to be with Hunter, was the one who put him in danger, who left him behind. Emma could feel her face turning red, and she knew it was because of her stress, and the oncoming feeling of crying.

" Look, I'll call Lewis." Cleo said, reaching into her pocket, " Maybe Hunter's at home." she put her phone to her ear, and called her boyfriend, while Emma nervously tapped her foot.

She heard the sound of talking on the line, as Cleo spoke to Lewis, " Can you check Hunter's house? See if he's home." Another mumble, and then silence. It felt like hours before another mumble, but in reality probably only a few minutes.

Cleo looked at Emma and frowned, signaling her fears were in fact coming true. Hunter wasn't home, meaning he was in trouble. " Lewis, get your boat, and go to Mako Island. "

" Tell him to hurry." Emma said. Quickly, they all jogged to the end of Miriam's backyard and launched themselves into the water, zooming off to find their friend.

Emma had never swam into the water so quickly before. Usually Rikki was always in front, Emma behind her, and Cleo lagging at the end. But this time, she was more than a few feet ahead, determined to get to the island all of them were so familiar with. It was almost a guarantee that Hunter was there, and that he was hurt, and even though she was moving as quickly as possible. She didn't think she was moving fast enough.

Ten minutes later they arrived at shore. The three of them poked their heads above the water, and looked left to right. All Emma saw was the sand at first, and then something caught her eye. A boat.

Emma quickly swam over, lingering at the edge. The boat was on it's side, all the glass from every window shattered. There were no belongings on deck, and Emma assumed it was because they'd all gotten blown off in the storm. Her heart rate sped up knowing that Hunter had crashed. So that meant he had to be in the boat.

She let the water push her to shore, and crawled the remaining way to the windows on her elbows. Once she reached the front, she looked in, only to find more shattered glass, no body. A little hope rose inside her, but she was quick to push it down. Because as she continued to look inside, she saw blood, both on the wall and on a shard of glass.

" He's not in here." Emma said, trying to keep her voice under control as best she could. This was not a time to be panicking, and Emma was supposed to be the composed one. " We have to search the rest of the island."

They all nodded and moved farther up the shore to get away from the water. Rikki brought her hand over each of the girls tails, one at a time, and clenched her small fist to activate her heating power. In just a few minutes, the girl's legs and clothing had returned, and they stood.

Looking ahead, they saw Lewis' boat come closer. He looked just about as stressed as everyone else did. He'd barely cut off the engine to his small boat before jumping out and jogging toward the girls. He looked behind him at the boat. " He wasn't in there?" Lewis asked, slightly out of breath.

" No." Cleo confirmed, shaking her head. " We were going to search the rest of the shore."

" Right, well, I'll go this way." Emma said, turning and quickly walking to her right. She didn't hear her friends answers, and didn't care at the moment. Her mind was solely focused on finding Hunter. Suddenly in her mind, all she could see was his face. Thoughts of him raced through her mind. The thought that he could be dead pained her greatly.

Emma had searched everywhere she possibly could've. She checked the edges of the forest, scanned every piece of sand on the beach. But she could find him. Tears threatened to consume her vision, as the thought of him really being gone sunk in. She tried her best to regain her composure, because crying about it wouldn't solve anything. She walked towards the water, and let it consume her, transform her into her mermaid state.

She dipped her entire body into the water, before a thought came to her. She hadn't searched completely along the shore. There was still a bit of space left of sand, before it ended at the volcano barrier. She swam quickly over, and couldn't help but notice the water slightly changed color. The water she was near had a reddish pink tint to it, and Emma was left heavily confused. She went closer, and saw something else. A body part, a foot. Her senses clicked into over drive, and she went closer. Her blue eyes widened at the sight, and she wish she didn't see what she saw.

There was Hunter, his body slammed against one of the large boulders. His back was against the boulder, his head laying limply on the sand. His mouth was open, his hair was matted to his head, because of both water and blood from a wound she'd noticed on his head. His eyes were closed, telling her he was definitely unconscious. His blue shirt was ripped in several places, at every rip was another stream of red. There was a particularly big, jagged hole on his abdomen, where the a slow, steady stream of blood continued to leak out. The blood made a rivet in the sand that stretched from him all the way to the water. He was as pale as Emma had ever seen him. He looked like...he looked like he was dying.

Her heart began to thump against her chest, and the world went silent. She was in temporary shock, never seeing anything like that before could do that someone. Especially someone close to you. It was just as scary as it was when they'd almost lost Rikki once.

" Cleo! Rikki! Lewis!" She screamed, making her voice go as loud as possible. She didn't have time to go and retrieve them, and Hunter didn't have time either.

Emma swam forward quickly, crawling once she reached shore. She scooted over to him, not being able to transform into her human form herself. She reached him, and pulled him, so that he was no longer against the boulder and instead on his back. Once that was done, she lifted his torso up, so that it was now resting on her tail. She cradled him in her arms.

His chest moved slowly, signaling that he was in fact alive, but it didn't help her much. Hunter's eyes fluttered briefly, and he opened them halfway. " Emma..." he said, so quietly she had to strain to hear.

" Yes, Hunter?" She replied, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible, but it cracked, despite her efforts.

" Emma..." He repeated, but before he said anything, his eyes shut again. Hearing the loud rumble of a motor, Emma tore her eyes away from him, and looked to see the three of her friends in Lewis' boat. She looked back at Hunter, who's breathing began to slow again. Her eyes filled with tears.

" Stay with me Hunter." She said, hoping he could hear her.

" Stay with me."

* * *

><p><em>AN: Alrighty, that's it._

_Leave a **REVIEW** if you liked it, annnnnd the next chapter will be up as soon as I can get it out._

_Thanks for reading!(:_

_-Taylor. _


	12. He's Okay

The sterile smell of the large waiting room of the hospital was beginning to bother Emma. She sat in it's plush seats along with the three of her friends, waiting to hear how Hunter was. She still was in slight shock from earlier. She couldn't get the sight of Hunter's battered state. She had never expected that turn of events to happen, and she wished she could take it back.

She was so lost in her thoughts and focused on the wall ahead of her, that she didn't hear her friends speaking beside her. She almost forgot they were there until she felt a hand on hers. Her face blank, she looked over to find Cleo. The brunette's face was laced with concern, " Emma, he'll be alright."

Emma nodded slowly, " Mhmm, I know." she said, but it didn't take away her fear. Suddenly, she could feel all of her friends eyes on her. " What?" she questioned, did she miss something?

" We were just wondering if Hunter might've seen something on the island while he was there." Lewis said, and Emma then realized why they were confused. They'd probably been talking before she decided to come back to earth.

" We were saying it because we don't think all of his injuries just came from the boat." Rikki added on, " I mean we found him near the moon pool entrance..."

" And those injuries look like they could've been cause by all of those rocks over by the underwater exit by the pool."

Emma raised an eyebrow. If that was so, that would mean Hunter was in the moon pool. He'd probably gone there for cover, and decided to leave, only to be punished by the waves upon his exit. It explained a lot, and she assumed that they were onto something.

" Do you think he saw anything?" Cleo asked, looking at all of them.

" It's fine." Rikki said with a slight wave of her hand. She didnt even look phased, " It's not like he saw us change, right?"

She thought about it and at first thought the answer to that was a definite no. But then she remembered. When she had first saw Hunter, she didn't have Rikki there to return her to her human state. She'd just went up to Hunter to see if he was alright. He'd opened his eyes, saw her torso, and had even laid on her tail. Her eyes widened slightly, and all of her friends sighed. " Well, he might've seen me..." she trailed.

" Emma..." Lewis chastised her.

" What? He might not even remember. He was woozy then." She reminded them. But that didn't matter regardless. Hunter was a close friend of theirs. He wouldn't intentionally hurt them, and if he did in fact remember seeing Emma's tail, he'd think he was going nuts. That or he would simply ask them. " What's so bad about him knowing anyway? What reason do we have not to trust him?"

Emma received nods of agreement from every one of her friends, and she turned, ready to face Hunter.

She was led to the room by a nurse, who let her go in, but made her aware that Hunter was in fact asleep still. He was given medicine to put him to sleep because they'd had to stitch him up. The nurse walked her in, and then shut the door behind her, leaving her alone with him.

She almost didn't look at the hospital bed Hunter laid in. Part of her was afraid to see the dying vision of him she'd seen at the beach that was still imprinted in her mind. But, she sucked it up and looked over at him, happy with what she saw.

He'd regained all of his color, his sun kissed glow had returned. He was no longer the ghost of a boy she'd seen earlier. All his wounds were patched up, and he looked good. Not like it'd almost been the end of him just two hours prior.

At this, she grinned, so hard that her cheeks almost hurt. He was okay. Perfectly okay. " Thank god." she said.

The blonde looked around the room for a chair to sit in. Far off against the opposite wall she spied a stool. She walked over to retrieve it, and moved it to his bedside.

She looked at his hand that rested on the bed just below her, connected to wires that hooked up to the heart monitor, and took it gently in her own, rubbing it gently with her thumb.

She looked at his face again, and the guilt hit her all at once. It was completely his fault for getting so pissed off, that was all on him. But she did fuel that fire by blowing him off, leading him on. She'd tried not to, tried to back off because she did like Byron. She was busy waiting for him, holding onto the inkling of hope that Byron and herself could be together again.

And Hunter had been the only guy in school that made her question whether Byron was really worth all the stress, and maybe that's why she'd rejected Hunter every time he asked her out. Hunter was making her realize he'd be so much better for her, and part of her was holding onto Byron.

It wasn't until two days prior, when he kissed her that she realized who she truly wanted. Not only was the kiss monumental, but the things he said to her... When he told her how he felt, she began to realize she'd had the same feelings, and it scared her. The last guy to make her feel that way was Byron. That wasn't supposed to happen, and so she kicked him out. She was confused.

She really had been torn the following day when she asked him on the boat. Even after she'd shut him down, he still tried, and that meant something. She'd actually wanted to go then, to try it, but she had no choice. It was a full moon, and it would be disastrous if she got moonstruck with him.

She knew she really hurt him then, but he hurt her when he asked Miriam instead. She couldn't be too angry though, she'd been doing the same to him.

She'd been stupid. She'd gone and rejected Hunter, focused on Byron, when Hunter was the one invading her mind...

No matter. She wasn't confused anymore. She knew who she wanted. Only now, there was problem. Now he didn't want her. He'd said so himself. His words still bothered her, even though he said them when he was angry, it hurt her heart, because she knew part of him meant it.

_I'll find someone who actually _wants _to be with me. And I'll leave you alone, since that seems to be what you want. _

Suddenly she was snatched out of her thoughts. Her hand was no longer warmed. She looked down at it and saw that it was empty, and then realized it'd been moved. She looked at Hunter, who looked back at her. She sort of expected him to look a little excited but he didn't. His brows were creased, his lips formed a straight line.

Emma chuckled awkwardly, " Don't you look happy to see me."

_HUNTER._

" Why are you here?" Hunter asked, his voice was rough, he sounded tired. He looked around at the space around him, and it didn't look too familiar. A white room, a couch on the oppiste side, a large window to his right. He was in a bed, monitors at his bedside, checking his heart beat which was picking up pace slightly. " Why am _I_ here?"

Last thing he remembered was losing control of the boat. He didn't remember what happened after that. How did he get to a hospital?

Emma sighed lightly, returning her hands to her lap. " Well, there was a big storm last night, when you were on the water. And you crashed your boat." she explained. At that moment, all he could think of his boat. His dad was going to MURDER him. He closed his eyes and shook his head as she continued. " Miriam still had her party..."

" Bitch." he commented, but Emma kept going on.

" She told us you were by Mako Island, and we found you on the beach. The waves had gotten a hold of you, and when I found you you were knocked out."

He tried to remember all of it as she spoke, but all he got in his mind were flashes, nothing concrete, nothing he could work with. He did slightly remember seeing Emma...but no, it couldn't be. He doubted she would've shown up in a bra with orange scales..

Wow he really was hallucinating.

" Do you remember any of that, Hunter?" He heard Emma say, she sounded a little nervous to him.

" The only thing I remember is..is a pool, with really crazy blue water and...ah, scales." he left out the part about her with scales. Then they'd check him into the psych ward next for sure. He didn't need all that. " I don't remember how I got knocked out." he finished.

There was a slightly long pause before he heard her voice again, " Well, good thing we found you when we did." she said, and then finished in a quieter tone, " They said if you'd lost anymore blood you'd have died."

Hunter frowned then, taking on the seriousness of the situation. He could've _died_, and it was all because his anger got the best of him. He yelled at her and asked Miriam out out of spite, and ended up getting himself in a mess. Of course a storm wasn't under his control, but the events would've been different if he hadn't acted the way he did.

On that note, it was a perfect time to apologize about the day before.

He sighed and opened his eyes and searched for hers. " I'm sorry, Emma." he said quietly.

Her head tilted slightly and she replied. " For what?"

" Yelling at you." He said, " I was just angry. You...I..I was just agitated, and I shouldn't have talked to you like that." he finished. He felt like he'd done the right thing after that.

" Thank you for your apology." Emma said, smiling lightly. " But really, I feel as if I should apologize to."

It was his turn to ask, " For what?"

" Well, everything you said to me, at JuiceNet, you were right." She said, and Hunter's brows raised in surprised. He was? " I haven't exactly been treating you as I should. And I meant what I said. I didn't mean to hurt you."

" Really? You really mean that?" He asked, and she nodded. That was good news he guessed. She had to care if she didn't want to hurt him. But what did that mean for them? " Thank you then, for telling me."

Her small smile disapeared and she paused, leaving Hunter confused. " What?' he asked. She looked at the bed instead of him.

" I have to ask you something else though." Emma said.

" Yeah, anything."

" Miriam..She told me that you and her, well, got..cozy last night." she said. She didn't look up at him right away, giving Hunter a chance to mentally freak for a minute, and try to do so without sparking up his heart rate to give his nerves away.

That flash of memory came back to him, the kiss. The kiss he'd tried to get his kiss with Emma out of his mind. It wasn't a good one, he felt nothing, but still he did it. He looked up at her, and saw the melancholy look on her face. He felt guilty. He knew she didn't want to hear that they kissed. It'd ruin everything if he told her the truth.

It wasn't good to lie, but..hell, he'd tell the truth later. Nothing bad could come of it...right?

" Me getting cosy with Miriam?" Hunter said, trying to sound as grossed out as possible. " Does it sound like something I would do?"

Emma paused, thinking his words over. She looked up finally and laughed, obviously believing him and wondering why she'd even think he would do that. " No, it doesn't." she said.

But that made him think. If he did kiss Miriam, what did it mean to her? She didn't want to go out with him. " Even if I did, why do you care?" he asked, " Don't you have, Byron?" Ew, that name brought a sour taste to his mouth.

She shook her head, " It's a lon—" She paused as Hunter looked at her with an irritated expression. If he ever heard that damn phrase again.. " I'm not worried about him anymore.."

She looked him in the eye, just the look on her face caused his heart rate to pick up as evident by the beeping on the monitor. She smiled sweetly at him. " Plus I didn't come here to talk about him." he said. " I came to apologize about thursday night...I shouldn't have pulled away." she said softly.

The kiss then, was what she was talking about. That was good news. That was really good news. If he didn't know better, he'd think she was saying indirectly that she returned his feelings. He smiled, and felt himself slowly returning to his regular self. " You mean it wasn't because of my breath?"

She laughed, a musical sound to his ears, and shook her head. " No.." she said, " It's a long—"

" In other words, you're never gonna tell me." Hunter replied, and she shrugged.

" But to make it up to you, I thought we could watch a movie or something. Hang out. I might tell you then." She said. Hunter couldn't approve of the idea fast enough.

" If I can get out of here definitely. " Hunter nodded.

" Alright, my house at 6:30." Emma proposed.

" I'll bring the movie." Hunter said.

" It's a date then." Emma said, and slowly a smile spread across both their faces. He grabbed her smaller hand in his.

" It's a date." Hunter replied.

The door swung open and through it came three people : Rikki, Cleo and Lewis, all holding big bags of food.

Rikki held up the bag in her hand and grinned." Who's up for chinese?"

* * *

><p><em>AN: Ya'll i am so sorry i took too long. For a minute there I lost all inspiration for this story, and for that I apologize. But I got back to it because I know how much you all appreciate this story, and I couldn't let ya down(:_

_If you enjoyed this, please leave a_ REVIEW, _and tell me what ya thought._

_thanks for reading!_

_-Taylor(:_


	13. Something's Wrong Here

" So I can't go home tonight?" Hunter looked up at the doctor standing above him, looking at his clipboard. It seemed that already his plans were to be shot down. He had called the doctor in, happily asking when he'd be able to leave the hospital. But now that he couldn't leave he couldn't hand out with Emma that night.

Damnit.

" No, not tonight. To be safe we're going to keep you tonight for observation. You hit your head pretty hard." he jotted down a few more words on his clipboard before looking back at Hunter." But if everything goes well, you can leave first thing tomorrow, alright, Mr. Wright?"

" Yeah okay." Hunter sighed, the last thing he wanted to do was stay there. He'd rather be with Emma. But he couldn't argue with a doctor.

The doctor nodded and left, closing the door behind him and leaving Hunter alone in the Hospital room.

His friends had left a few hours ago, visiting hours had passed. It was actually a funny sight, they'd had to be dragged out of the room while the nurse chastised them about making a mess with the Chinese food. The nurse had gotten an earful from Rikki of course, who wouldn't go down without a fight.

He laughed at the memory.

He leaned over to the nightstand by his bed and went to call Emma, tell her the bad news. She picked up after a few rings. " Hello?" she answered, she probably didn't know the number.

" Hey, Em." He said.

" Oh, hi, Hunter." Emma replied, he could just hear her smiling, and it made him smile to. " Why aren't you calling from your mobile?"

" I'm still up at the hospital." Hunter replied.

" But it's 6:00, you're not on your way here?" Emma asked, sounding a little disheartened.

" Yeah, about that." Hunter sighed, " I can't come. Doc says they're keeping me for the night. Want to make sure I'm completely okay.

" Well that stinks." She sighed. It was quiet for a moment, neither of them knowing what to say. She spoke first. " I have an idea."

" Shoot."

" How about I bring a movie to your room?" She suggested. " They have a DVD player in the room right?"

Hunter thought it was a spectacular idea. Of course, he would've preferred to hang out in a normal house, chillin' on the couch, but this'd have to do. He looked up at the tv, and saw that it indeed had a DVD player. " Yup, they have one."

" Alright, I'm on my way." Emma replied, he could hear shuffling in the background, she was already getting ready to go.

" Okay, cool." Hunter said, " See you soon, Em."

" See you soon." She said, and then the line went dead.

Hunter put the phone back down on the reciever and then grinned. So the date was still on. " Woo!" he shouted aloud, raising his arms above his head. He had little time to celebrate before a rank smell invaded his nose.

His face twisted in disgust. " What the hell?" he said, lowering his face to his armpits.

He snatched his head away getting a whiff of the smell. He reeked! He couldn't hang out with her smelling like he'd just stepped out of a dumpster. He got up from his bed and made his way to the bathroom. On his way, he saw what looked to be a suitcase on the couch in the room.

He walked up to it, opened it, and inside were a set of clothes. He wondered who brought it, it was very kind of them. A tshirt, sweatpants, underwear, socks, and a pair of sneakers were inside, and he took all but the sneakers out, and proceeded to the bathroom.

A towel and a washcloth hung on the rod of the small shower, and he nodded once. He put the clothes in his hands on the lid of the toilet. He discarded his clothing, throwing it on the floor below him, and turned the handle to the shower. Some water spurted in his face, the result of a broken spout, and he jumped back. He took one of his hands and wiped it off, cursing to themself.

" A nice hospital like this and they can't even have a decen-Ah!" he suddenly couldn't feel his legs. It was like he'd gotten paralyzed or something.

He had no time to dwell on that before he was falling backwards through the air, yelling all the way down, before crashing into the hard tile floor with a large thud. " Shit." he said as he looked at the ceiling above him. His head was banging at that point, and he could already feel a headache coming on. Hmm, He could feel the headache, but he couldn't feel his legs. Why was that?

He couldn't deny he was a little scared. He needed to investigate, but what he saw when he looked down definitely wasn't what he had been suspecting. " Oh. My. God."

No, no no. He was dreaming. He was hallucinating. There was no way that instead of legs, there was a fish tail. A large aqua blue fishtail, the same color of his eyes, resting there on the floor. He turned slightly, and some of the scales glimmered sea green.

" I'm dreaming." Hunter said to himself, breathing hard.

He took his hand, and ran his hands over the scales. They were slimy, wet, but smooth. If he could feel them, he wasn't dreaming.

But he _had_ to be! This wasn't possible. With the same hand, he touched his arm, pinching himself. The pain he was experiencing wasn't helping, he wasn't waking up.

" This isn't happening." His heart rate picked up as he stared at the tail. " How can I be a fucking fish!" he said loudly.

" Hunter?" He heard from outside the door. His eyes widened, it was Emma. How the hell did she get there so quickly? " Are you in here?"

" Uh, no!" Hunter shouted out, and then face palmed himself. Why would he say that! Now obviously he was in there!

" I heard you yelling from outside." Emma replied. " Are you okay?"

Oh shit, he had to get her away. If she saw him like that? Holy crap. She'd go scream and think he was a monster. It would be a disaster. He had to play it off.

" I...I'm fine!" He said, but it didn't sound convincing at all. He sounded like he'd just seen a ghost. " Just feel sick is all. I'm good, no worries!"

" Are you sure?" Emma replied, and he could hear her footsteps on the tile floor, nearing the bathroom.

" Yes, I'm sure!" He said quickly, but she didn't stop walking. " You don't wanna get sick too! Stay away!"

" Should I call the nurse then?" Emma suggested, sounding a bit worried now. But she didn't stop walking.

" No!" He shouted, the nurse was definitely NOT a good idea. The sick angle wasn't the best one to take then.

Well, at least the door was locked. He looked over to clarify, and was wrong. The lock was turned the opposite, meaning she could go on and walk in. She was getting closer, he had to lock it before her worrying got the best of her and she just came in.

He reached his arm out, but just missed the lock. Cursing under his breath he tried to move, but his damn tail was to heavy. He was moving a simple millimeter a minute. Her steps were getting closer, his arm reaching farther.

" Hunter, you're worrying me..."

" Look, Emma just go home!" he shouted in haste. " We'll hang tomorrow!"

And then the door opened.

" Hunter?" It opened at a good 60 degree angle before he was able to reach all the way over and shut the door.

" We'll hang when I feel better." He said as an excuse for shutting the door.

She was quiet for the longest amount of time. It was almost like she wasn't even there, but he could see the shadow of her feet through the door.

She'd seen his tail hadn't she? Oh man, he was dead. She was going to tell someone and then they'd think he was some kind of monster and then they take him to a creepy lab and they do tests on him and-

" I'll just stay?" Emma finally said, sounding so casual it disturbed him. Maybe she hadn't saw anything.

He was quiet for a moment before talking, " No. I'll just see you later, Emma."

" Oh... Okay. See you later, then." She said, and then he heard and saw her steps going away, and a few seconds later heard the door shut.

Hunter's eyes went back to his tail and he whispered, " Oh shit."

_EMMA_

Emma stood outside Hunter's hospital door, freaking out herself. She could've sword she saw a tail. A big blue tail on the bathroom floor. She wanted to say she was just hallucinating, but of all things why would she imagine that?

She needed to talk to someone about this.

She grabbed her phone out of her pocket, and did a three way call with Rikki, Cleo and Lewis, who was at Cleo's house, talking over her phone. She was the first one to speak.

" Something is going on guys."

" What's up?" Rikki asked, sounding interested.

" I think something is wrong with Hunter. I saw something." She said, seeing the tail in her head.

" Wait, just start from the beginning." Lewis told her, always eager to analyze something.

Emma nodded, " Well, we were going to watch a movie tonight, so I went to his hospital room-"

" Aw, that's so adorable!" Cleo cut in.

" Cleo focus." Rikki said snappily.

" Sorry..." Cleo replied.

Emma sighed, she needed to get the story out, " Anyway, I heard him yelling and a big thump from down the hallway." she said, " I checked it out, opened the door, and I _swear_ I saw a tail."

" A tail?" Rikki repeated slowly.

" A mermaid tail...except it was blue, not orange like ours." Emma elaborated, remembering it now, she was positive thats what she saw.

" So you're saying..." Said Cleo.

" That he's a mermaid...er man." Lewis said, she could practically hear the gears turning in his head.

" Well I guess... It's what I saw." She sighed, " Is that even possible? Hunter could be a merman?" she asked

" It makes sense I guess." Cleo said, " We did find him by the moon pool. He did get trapped on the island on the night of the...oh my.."

" The full moon." Rikki finished for her, " He changed last night?"

It made perfect sense, didn't it? So much sense in fact that it probably did happen. " What do you think Lewis?" he was awfully quiet on the other end.

" I'm er...I'm going to look something up." Lewis said quietly. " I'll get back to you."

" Right then, I'll talk to you guys later." Emma said and they said their goodbyes before hanging up. She turned and leaned on the wall behind her. " Wow." she said to herself.

She got off of the wall and snuck back into the hospital room, closing the door silently behind her. She listened hard and could hear Hunter cursing to himself in the bathroom still. Something was definitely wrong with him, that was for sure. And if it was in fact what she thought, and he was a merman, he was probably scared out of his mind. She decided that she was going to be there for him.

She creeped over to the bed, and laid down. She looked at the door in front of her and simply waited.

_HUNTER_

Hunter had been sitting in the exact same spot on the floor for hours, hoping praying that this tail would disapear. Hoping that it was only a dream. That he hit his head too hard, knocked something out of place. But those hours passed and he still didn't change back.

He was stuck. And you know what? It pissed him off. Just when everything was starting to get better, this crap had to happen to him. He was happy here finally. He had good friends, good grades, and he almost had Emma. _Really_ had her. And in just seconds, that was snatched away from him.

His life sucked.

At that thought, he let his head fall back on the wall he sat against. He sighed and went to move the tail again, but was surprised when a sensation he hadn't felt for hours come back to him. Individual legs. His eyes shot open and he looked down.

They were back! He had legs again!

" Holy.." he gasped. Then he laughed and wiggled his toes. Maybe he was really hallucinating. He trailed his fingers up his legs, to make sure they really were there, and they were. Thank god. It was unfortunate he couldn't have stopped going crazy when Emma had been there.

He stood up on those legs, and put his clothes on. He opened the door and stepped back out into the fresh air, not the air he had been recycling for the past three hours. It was officially dark in the room, the sun had gone down, and he had to struggle to find the bed. When he did, he looked for the nightstand and turned on the small light that sat atop it.

He jumped when his vision focused, and he saw someone in the bed. A small petite figure laid on it's side, it's breathing slow, minimal, asleep. He leaned closer and realized it was a girl, with blonde hair spread out on the pillow. It was Emma.

" She stayed." He whispered to himself, a small smile appearing on his face.

Had she been there the entire time? She looked like she'd been asleep for a while. The mattress had even taken in her shape. Why would she do that, though? It was really nice of her. Shit, after all he'd done? Man, he didn't deserve her.

He got into the bed next to her, trying to move the bed as little as possible to avoid waking her up. He laid on his back on the other side of the bed. Before he could move anymore she moved. She turned onto her other side, facing him, and rested her hand on his stomach, her face on his chest.

His heart picked up pace, beating so fast he was sure she'd wake up. He tensed, because he didn't know what the hell to do. What if she wasn't concious, and she woke up and didn't want him to touch her? That would be disastrous.

But, he ended up sucking it up, and put his arms just under her, curling it around to rest on her waist. She didn't move at first, and they laid their for a few minutes, Hunter freaking out out of nervousness, and Emma just sleeping.

And then she moved again, opened her eyes. He looked down and she looked a little startled for a moment, like she didn't know where she was. And then the look disappeard and she familiarized herself. Her eyebrows raised high as she realized who she was laying on, and even through the dim light, he saw her cheeks redden. Wow, that was the first time that even happened. Even as stressed as he was, he smiled a little.

She obviously felt a little awkward because she moved off of him, returning to her original spot.

" Hi," Hunter said, and Emma spoke but didn't make eye contact with him. He found it odd that the nervous feelings were returned. But it was sort of humorous.

" Hi." She said quietly,

" You stayed." He said, " I thought you left."

She shrugged, " Wanted to make sure you were alright."

" I was sick was all." He replied, but she made a face, and he knew she didn't believe him. It's not like he could tell her the truth though.

" Mhmm." She replied.

He didn't want the situation to get awkward, didn't want any long silences, so he spoke. " Er, since you're here, do you still want to watch the movie?"

She nodded, finally looking up at him. " Sure." she said, " I brought She's The Man."

Hunter's entire face lit up, and seeing his obvious happiness, she grinned. " I love that movie!" he said loudly. And he did, he knew that movie backwards and forwards. He didn't even know the amount of money he'd spent renting and re-renting that movie until he could afford to buy it on DVD.

" Good." She chuckled, and picked up the movie off the nightstand before standing up and putting it in the DVD player. She then walked back to the bed and sat down, not laid. And he wished she'd lay on him like before, it'd been more comfortable for him.

They sat like that for the first ten minutes of the movie, and only half of his time was spent paying attention. Otherwise, he kept looking at her in the corner of his eye, wondering if she would get comfortable. He didn't want to have to pull the fake yawn-and-then-put-your-arm-around-her-shoulder move. It was entirely too played out.

She obviously thought he might've been wierded out of something by her laying on him, but he didn't mind it. And as another five minutes passed buy, he realized he'd have to let her know that.

" You know, you can uh, lay back down." Hunter said, he kept his eyes on the screen, just in case it would get awkward, and he didn't want to be looking at her if she shot him down. " There'll be more space on the bed.." he added, trying to come up with a valid excuse for his words.

" You're sure?" She replied a few moments later, and he simply nodded in reply.

She didn't move at first, and Hunter stretched his arm out, inviting her in. And seconds later he could feel her against him: head on his chest, hand on his stomach. And again, he wrapped his arm around her. He couldn't see her face, so he didn't know what she was doing, but he was grinning too hard.

They laid there then, enjoying a simple movie. But as much as he wanted to, Hunter couldn't forget about earlier. He wouldn't be able to do this ever, if he was that thing he was in the bathroom he couldn't be with her.

Life sucked.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Just a little fluffy chapter i guess. first time emma and hunter actually get cozy, since last time they did..well, you know(:_

_Anyway, hope you enjoyed the fluff and THE TRANSFORMATION. Mwahahahahaaaa. I know a lot of you saw it coming and were like," omg, when is he gonna turn, this is taking foreverrrrr." Well'p, here you go._

_If you enjoyed please leave a **REVIEW** telling me what you liked or didn't like, and any other random comments about what you thought. All the reviews are much appreciated._

_See ya'll soon. Thanks for reading!_

_-Taylor(:_


End file.
